Letter about saving the orangutans

by vynguyen1610 (student)

Kim Trinh

18 Johnson Street, Sunshine North, Vic 3020

The Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia

Senayan - Jakarta - Indonesia – 10270

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

I’m writing to you about the poaching of Orang-utans in Sumatra and Borneo’s rainforests. The number of Orang-utans is decreasing day by day because of killing for palm oil plantation, logging, low level of law enforcement and poaching. Imagine how do we feel when our beloveds are being poached, being killed every day? Miserable, empty? Even an animal could have those feelings and Orang-utans are calling for help. I believe that with the attempt of many people caring for Orang-utans and helping from the Government, we can save a species from extinction.

Firstly, why do wealthy want a pet like Orang-utans? The illegal pet trade in Orang-utans of wildlife is, unfortunately, very common in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia. Orang-utan infants are usually poached then sold on the black market for pets with the price up to thousands of dollars as they are cute. According to the information about Orang-utans, babies cling to their mothers and suckle their mother’s milk until the age of 6 years. Many baby orangs die before they become pets. Stress and disease kills as many as four out of five young orangs in the first few months after being caught. Each infant being captured meaning that there will be the loss of two orang-utans because in order to get rid of the mothers, poachers usually kill them.

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Secondly, not only adult female Orang-utans are killed but also the others so why do men have to kill Orang-utans and what for? Orang-utans are being hunted for their meat, babies, or skulls. As well as being consumed as bushmeat, body parts find their way into medicinal products or become tourist souvenirs. When adult orang-utans are killed, the skulls of the dead may be used to create souvenirs that are sold illegally throughout Kalimantan. More important reasons that lead to the deaths of many orang-utans are palm oil plantation and logging. Palm oil plantations and logging often replace tropical forests so the orang-utans that are displaced might be starve to death, they can get killed by plantation workers as pests, or die in the fires. Another thing is when a habitat is decreased in size, it forces Orang-utans to travel outside of their normally dense forests and into populated areas where humans will often capture or shoot them.

Thirdly, problems of protecting orang-utans from poaching and killing are about the law. A report titled The Indonesian Chainsaw Massacre contained this sentence: "People who capture or buy orang-utans know there is zero chance of being prosecuted," said the groups in a joint statement. Indonesian laws exist to protect endangered wildlife species. Often the enforcement of these laws is very difficult. In order for law enforcement officials to be able to confiscate illegally held orang-utans, they must first find them. Then they must have a place to bring them where they will be protected. And when someone is accused of poaching or killing orang-utan, the punishment for them is still very light. Law enforcement must be upgraded into higher level or else it will not make any effort on banning people from poaching endangered species.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend more protection areas to be created to provide food and safe habitat for Orang-utans, prevent them from being poached. Furthermore, I suggest that the Government should immediately stop issuing new permits, cancel existing permits for logging and plantation concessions in forests that contain Orang-utans. New roads that bisect Orang-utans habitat should be banned and establish specific criminal laws for poaching and killing Orang-utans. They will be extinct in the next 10 years if we don’t do anything. Please consider my suggestions and try your best to save our “friends”.

Yours sincerely,

Kim Trinh