After spending three months recovering from devastating August wildfires, six critically endangered Bornean orangutans were returned to the wild Wednesday, taking their first tentative steps onto a vast, featureless expanse of grey soot.
PALANGKARAYA, Indonesia — The metal grates of the transport crates slid upward just after dawn. The morning air tasted sharply of diesel exhaust and pulverized peat, settling in a fine grey film over the plastic folding chairs where local officials had gathered to watch nature heal.
Hesitating at the threshold of his enclosure, a 140-pound adult male named Budi peered out at a horizon entirely devoid of trees, vegetation, or shade. Following a gentle prod from a handler’s fiberglass pole, the great ape lumbered forward, dragging his knuckles through three inches of warm, grey dust that until September had been a dense primary rainforest canopy.
We are absolutely thrilled to see them finally go home, where they can return to their natural behaviors of wandering aimlessly across a lunar landscape and coughing.
The release marks the culmination of a heavily publicized rescue effort subsidized by Sinar Mas Agri, the multinational palm oil conglomerate that currently holds the agricultural lease to the charred wasteland. Company representatives applauded the apes' remarkable resilience as a fleet of yellow Komatsu excavators finished bulldozing the last remaining unburnt stumps just over the ridge.
By mid-afternoon, observers noted that Budi had successfully constructed a makeshift arboreal nest out of discarded instant noodle wrappers and a smoldering piece of corrugated tin, settling in for a peaceful evening in the wild.