On September 13, 2026, Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) and our partners at The Indonesian Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) rescued a 20-year-old orangutan mother and her one-month-old infant daughter from a wildfire in West Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo.
We found mother and infant clinging to a burned tree, surrounded by thick smoke and burning peatland. The smoke and haze filled the engulfed forest leaving mother and child trapped with nowhere to escape.
Working together OFI and BKSDA carried out a dramatic emergency evacuation, freeing mother and daughter from a smoke and ash-filled landscape.
We named the mother Sari, after the village near where we rescued her from, and her daughter Sara.
Examinations by BKSDA and OFI veterinarians found that Sari suffered serious burn injuries on both her hands and feet, a likely result of her fleeing the fires. Despite these excruciating injuries, as is typical of a true orangutan mother, Sari no doubt fiercely protected her daughter Sara from the flames.
We were relieved to find that the one-month-old Sara did not appear to have physical injuries. We transported Sari and Sara to OFI’s Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) in Pangkalan Bun, where Sari was discovered to be both dehydrated and anemic as a result of her harrowing experience. Because of this trauma and Sari’s burn injuries, they both remain under OFI veterinary observation and will receive the care they need.
But their rescue is about more than two orangutans.
Across Borneo and Sumatra, rainforest wildfires are destroying critically biodiverse habitats and peatlands at an unprecedented scale. The haze has become so widespread that it has again crossed international borders into Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Estimates and satellite views across Indonesia suggest that we have lost more than one million hectares of tropical rainforest to fire in 2026 – an enormous statistic by any measure.
The consequences of losing critical habitat to fire is devastating for orangutans. The forests that wild orangutans depend on for food, shelter, and survival can be destroyed by fire in a matter of hours. In the aftermath, orangutans are left injured, trapped, or displaced, often forced into increasingly dangerous encounters with people.
“Super” El Niño conditions, are intensifying wildfire probability on an already parched rainforest, where certain regions of Kalimantan have experienced more than sixty consecutive days without rainfall. Human-initiated fires for land clearing during these drought-like conditions, plus strong winds, can result in out-of-control forest fires very quickly.
Sari and Sara are fortunate – We found them in time.
We are deeply grateful to BKSDA and Indonesian government partner agencies. Together this September, we successfully evacuated fourteen orangutans from fire-engulfed forests in Central Kalimantan. Our mobile teams are out either rescuing and translocating orangutans or responding to emergency calls daily.
Bringing wild orangutans home will take more than a rescue. It will take protecting the forest they eventually will return to.
Our mission extends far beyond an initial rescue. OFI relentlessly defends these ancient forests to create secure and guarded wild sanctuaries that allow rescued orangutans to thrive and ultimately return to the wild— where their future can be secure.
While the welfare of orangutans is our utmost concern, protecting remaining forest is currently our number one priority.
We have dedicated teams assigned with monitoring burn areas and hotspots, and dispatching our crews where and when we can. This an overwhelming task.
Fighting rainforest wildfires requires resources. We must provide our teams with the tools to do this dangerous work. With your donation, OFI will purchase water pumps, hoses, protective gear, and transportation supplies. It also enables OFI to continue monitoring vulnerable areas of forest and quickly deploy firefighting crews.
Tropical rainforests take millennia to grow. In an instant, a fire can and will create incalculable damage. This is why we desperately need your support. You can place critical resources directly into the hands of OFI teams fighting fires in Kalimantan and help save innocent orangutans from peril. Your donation will make a difference.
Sari and Sara survived the fire. Now let’s make sure they have a forest to return to.
Help OFI fight the fires, save the forests, and save the orangutans.
Please make your emergency gift today!
With gratitude,
Frederick Galdikas
President
Orangutan Foundation International
