Category: Appeal

2024 Spring Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting Appeal

Dear Friend of OFI, The world is on fire. Everywhere you look, somewhere, there is a massive wildfire burning. As I write this sitting at my desk in Camp Leakey, fires are currently burning in Canada, Australia, and other locations. Unfortunately, the island of Borneo is not an exception to the recent occurrence of massive… Continue reading 2024 Spring Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting Appeal

Fall Appeal 2023

Dear Friends of OFI, The babies need our help! Each day, thousands of acres of tropical rain forests are clear‐cut, burned, and reduced to ash. The scorched earth, once home to variegated wildlife, becomes a deafeningly silent monoculture plantation. Wild orangutans who once roamed these now stricken ashen landscapes are starving, their deaths often carried… Continue reading Fall Appeal 2023

Fall – Winter Appeal 2022

For the last 51 years, Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) has been working to save orangutans and their endangered tropical rain forest habitat. Without forest, wild orangutans cannot survive. During the past years we have made tremendous progress protecting wild populations of orangutans and forests in Borneo. But it is not enough! Unfortunately, in many ways… Continue reading Fall – Winter Appeal 2022

Spring 2022 Appeal: Protect and Patrol

Protect and Patrol

You would be hard-pressed to find people more dedicated, resilient, and selfless than the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) patrol rangers. Stationed at remote wilderness posts across more than one million acres of forest in Central Indonesian Borneo (Central Kalimantan), OFI’s indigenous rangers are the heart of our Protect and Patrol Program. This program plays a… Continue reading Spring 2022 Appeal: Protect and Patrol

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Spring 2021 Appeal

This year Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) and I entered our 50th year – half a century – in Borneo! We have made a huge difference and continue our vital work. One of our main efforts has been rehabilitating orphan orangutan infants whose wild mothers have been killed during the massive deforestation that is slaughtering wildlife… Continue reading Spring 2021 Appeal

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Fall Appeal

Over the last few decades, because of your support, our Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) has been able to successfully rescue, care for, and release over 800 wild born ex-captive orangutans to life in the wild as well as rescue over 100 wild orangutans from human conflicts, primarily in the process of deforestation. Although… Continue reading Fall Appeal

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Emergency Appeal

During this time of struggle against a global pandemic, now more than ever we need your help to continue the important work of saving orangutans in Borneo and ensuring their protection from COVID-19! Friends of OFI: We need your help. All great apes, including orangutans, seem to be vulnerable to human respiratory diseases so when… Continue reading Emergency Appeal

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Help us fight the destruction of tropical rain forest

Dear Friends of OFI, Despite all the attention paid to the destruction of tropical rain forests throughout the world, deforestation has continued unabated over the last few decades. This is particularly true in Borneo where OFI has been working to protect and conserve wild orangutan populations and their only habitat, tropical rain forest, for almost… Continue reading Help us fight the destruction of tropical rain forest

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Help Us Fight Increasing Wildfires

Photo of Indonesian wildfire  Photo credit: Ulet Ifansasti NY Times       Dear Friends of OFI, From June until October 2019 OFI staff were once again called upon to fight fierce fires that threatened orangutan habitat, national forests, OFI facilities and release sites. Wildfires such as these ravage primary forest, orangutan habitat, and reduce it to smoke… Continue reading Help Us Fight Increasing Wildfires

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Photo of Indonesian wildfire
 Photo credit: Ulet Ifansasti NY Times      

Dear Friends of OFI,

From June until October 2019 OFI staff were once again called upon to fight fierce fires that threatened orangutan habitat, national forests, OFI facilities and release sites. Wildfires such as these ravage primary forest, orangutan habitat, and reduce it to smoke and ash.

With so little forest left for orangutans and other native animal species, these fires push wildlife to the forest edge, trap them in islands of burned forest or force them to travel through plantations to seek safety, increasing the risk of animal-human conflict. Indonesian forests have some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. These unique and precious ecosystems are currently under threat from the increasing intensity and regularity of wildfires.

  
Photo of orangutan ”Ash” rescued from fire near Pangkalan Bun
Photo of orangutan ”Ash” rescued from fire near Pangkalan Bun

Wildfires have, unfortunately, become the “new normal” as climate change driven conditions increase both the frequency and intensity of fires.  Many of these fires are started due to slash and burn techniques used to clear land for agriculture and to establish not only horticultural plots for traditional people but also to establish industrial plantations. These fires often quickly burn out of control because of decreased rainfall and prolonged drought, devastating forests and the wildlife that thrive within.

Orangutans and other Indonesian wildlife face threats to their existence daily. With the added challenge of having to flee their native habitats to escape forest fires, the chances of orangutan and other wildlife survival diminishes even further.

During this year’s wildfires, OFI Staff were called upon to rescue an orangutan that became trapped in the middle of a burned forest near Pangkalan Bun. Thankfully, OFI’s Rescue Team was able to respond and rescue this adult flanged male dubbed “Ash” and take him to the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) to treat for possible smoke and other fire related issues before release.

Photo of burned forest in Sebangau National Park,
Central Kalimantan
Photo credit: Ulet Ifansasti NY Times      

Although the fires spread quickly in Central Kalimantan this year, OFI staff were better prepared after experiencing the devastating fire season of 2015 when approximately 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) of forest were burned in the vicinity of Tanjung Puting National Park.

In 2019 OFI response teams were able fight the fires so that, in comparison with 2015, only several thousand hectares of forest were demolished in the vicinity. The takeaway after the last few years is that these fires are the “new normal”. OFI must be constantly prepared because it is almost certain that soon there will be more fires.

OFI has made the effort to connect with the brave, professional firefighters in California who regularly fight devastating wildfires throughout the state.  Their response times save countless lives and property and they have expressed a willingness to advise and train OFI staff.  Additionally, OFI will need to increase patrols for fire watch and hire an additional 50 temporary staff during fire season.  Preparation for the upcoming fire season will also require the purchase of fire protection and suppression equipment, water tanks, and response vehicles. In 2019 OFI hired 30 additional local men on a temporary basis. Without their help, it would have been impossible to successfully contain the fires much as we were able to do. We also purchased a small off-road “tractor” for hauling supplies into the peat swamp forests where the fires were the worst.

With the impacts of climate change worsening each year, it is no longer a matter of if fires will affect these forests next year, it is a matter of when.  As a dedicated supporter, we ask for your assistance so OFI can employ fire suppression techniques and respond efficiently to ensure these fires have minimal impact. Borneo’s cherished great apes need and deserve a brighter future than the one facing them now. Help us safeguard the forests so orangutans like “Ash” won’t have to face the trauma of fleeing a fire ravaged home. We need to be prepared. The future of orangutans is in our hands!

Donate Now!

With your help, OFI can be prepared to fight wildfires and save orangutans and forests from destruction.


With deep and abiding gratitude,

Biruté Mary Galdikas

OFI President

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