The Orangutan Project calls for urgent assistance to protect Critically Endangered species from COVID-19 poaching surge - PRNewswire

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The spate is believed to be driven by criminal poaching networks, who've become more audacious during COVID-19 lockdowns, and are taking advantage of restrictions to law enforcement caused by the pandemic. Increasing numbers of people are also resorting to poaching and logging to supplement their income during the economic downturn.

In response, The Orangutan Project is striving to raise more than $100,000 during March to resource community-based patrol teams to protect vulnerable wildlife.

Their patrols include safeguarding habitat from illegal logging, resourcing anti-poaching and snare removal patrols, and providing urgent medical assistance for wildlife found trapped and injured in poaching snares.

The appeal also extends to the resourcing of rescue teams, who patrol regional locations in search of orangutans stolen from dwindling forests and "sold on" by the illegal wildlife trade, often for as little as $30.

"Critically endangered orangutans, tigers, elephants and subsistence farmers, are now all struggling to survive in remnant forests," said Leif Cocks, founder of The Orangutan Project. "Over 80% of native forest in Sumatra and Borneo have been cleared for large plantations. When you add in a global pandemic which has plunged more than two million Indonesians back into poverty, you can see why we're facing a crisis. Critically endangered species will always lose out because their populations are no longer large enough to withstand poaching or further habitat loss."

Over the next 10 years, The Orangutan Project and their key partners aim to legally secure up to eight viable ecosystems to secure populations of critically endangered orangutans, tigers and elephants.

However, the very nature of the extinction crisis means multiple tasks have to be worked on simultaneously or they will simply run out of time.

"We're urgently raising funds for multiple projects to give critically endangered species a fighting chance of survival," said Cocks. "In the immediate sense, we need to vigilantly patrol remaining rainforests now, so we still have thriving ecosystems left to help legally secure when this pandemic is finally under control."

The Orangutan Project is urgently raising funds for emergency patrols throughout the month of March. Donations to this appeal will be directed to patrols across Indonesia and will help to safeguard critically endangered species from poaching and forest encroachment.

The patrol teams also locate and remove snares and provide urgent medical assistance and rescues for wildlife caught in snares, and work with subsistence farmers on ways to protect crops and livestock without resorting to snares and traps.

To contribute to this urgent appeal please visit: www.theorangutanproject.org

About The Orangutan Project

The Orangutan Project is a non-partisan organization that collaborates with several orangutan conservation projects on the ground in Indonesia to support the conservation and rehabilitation of orangutans and the preservation of their forest habitat. Founded by world-renowned orangutan expert Leif Cocks, The Orangutan Project's goal is to ensure the survival of the orangutan species in their natural habitat. For more information, visit https://www.theorangutanproject.org

MEDIA CONTACT:
Heather Ripley
Orange Orchard
(865) 977-1973
[email protected]

SOURCE The Orangutan Project