Terrified orangutans are carried to safety as their forest home is bulldozed

Seven orangutans, including three pairs of mothers and babies, have been forced from their home in Sumatra, Indonesia to make way for a palm oil plantation.

The Sun reports that the distressed great apes were carried to safety by a team of rescuers, some of them on makeshift stretchers.

According to the Sumatran Orangutan Society, orangutans can easily become isolated in farmlands if their natural forest habitat is destroyed. They are then at serious risk of death or starvation if they wanter into plantations to search for food.

The Daily Mail reports that the great apes have now been safely re-homed in the Gunung Leuser National Park.

Shockingly, the plantation is managed by a company called PT. Sisirau, which is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), designed to limit the industry's environmental impact and protect the orangutan's natural habitat.

These images have been released in advance of the RSPO annual three-day conference, which begins in Singapore on Tuesday.

Helen Buckland, Director of Sumatran Orangutan Society, told the Daily Mail: "We have today lodged a formal complaint with the RSPO about the actions of this member company.

"The company knows that there are orangutans on their land, the estate manager has even joined the team on rescues, yet the bulldozers continue to tear down the last remaining trees.

"PT. Sisirau has been a member of the RSPO since 2008, but has not been certified as producing sustainable palm oil - and we hope that the evidence released today ensures that they never will be.

"We are calling on PT. Sisirau to immediately halt all clearance and operations in the area, and for the RSPO to make an example of this company by terminating their membership."

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