Rare albino orangutan rescued

Indonesian activists from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BSO) rescued a rare albino orangutan from villagers in southern Borneo.

Villagers in Tanggirang in Central Kalimantan caught and caged the creature. Local police tipped off the BSO, who sent a team on April 29 to collect the animal.

It is the first albino orangutan BSO has seen in 25 years of operation.

“There must be orangutans living in the forests from whom the albino orangutan inherited the disorder, for it is genetic,” BSO CEO Jamartin Sihite told the Jakarta Post.

Bornean orangutans are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Borneo is losing its rainforest to oil palm, rubber, and paper plantations. Combined with population growth these forces had destroyed the majority of the orangutan’s habitat.

About 100,000 are estimated to still be living on Borneo.