This mother has given everything she had to protect her little baby!
The 20-year-old orangutan, who was later named
Mama Nam, was a victim of the recent spate of fires sweeping through the jungles of Borneo. When the forest where
Mama Nam burned down, she lost her home and her source of food as well.
But she wasn't about to give up on her little baby clinging to her side no matter what would happen!
To protect her little baby,
Mama Nam stole food from a nearby village and this was a highly dangerous mission as farmers would sometimes kill and torture orangutans in return for stealing their crops.
Luckily,
International Animal Rescue heard of her call for help last week and they rushed to the scene right away.
When the IAR team showed at the scene,
Mama Nam's little baby was hanging to a nearby tree. Although
Mama Nam was weak out of starving, she was determined to protect her little baby, and it took three anesthetic darts to leave her unconscious.
"It is amazing that, despite the fact that she was so skinny and weak, this mother was still determined to protect her baby," Ayu Budi Handayani, a vet with IAR, said in a statement. "She had already undergone the trauma of losing all sources of food and shelter when the forest was destroyed and then she had to contend with being hit by an anaesthetic dart and caught in a net. The poor thing couldn't know that we were there to help not harm her."
It was clearly what this mother had been through to provide food for her little baby and protecting him. Despite her struggles, the photos showed how much her little baby really needed her. IAR, which also runs an orphanage for orphaned orangutans, said it's seen a noticeable uptick in orangutan incidents in recent years.
"This poor mother and her baby have been without food for many months because their habitat was destroyed by fire," Karmele Llano Sanchez, program director for IAR, said in a statement. "It is heartbreaking to see wild orangutans in this extreme state of starvation ... the horror of rescuing animals from the burning forest and seeing their habitats wiped out before our very eyes is almost impossible to bear."
"I hope it won't be long before both mother and baby are fit enough to be released into a protected area of forest where there is a plentiful supply of fruits and other food to sustain them," Alan Knight, CEO of IAR, said in a statement".
If you want to help care for
Mama Nam and her baby, you can make a donation
here. Share with your family and friends!
