Indonesia Tries to Save the Orangutan

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A veterinary staff member of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme center conducts medical examinations on a 14-year-old male orangutan found with air gun metal pellets embedded in his body in Sibolangit district in northern Sumatra island, April 16, 2014.
A veterinary staff member of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme center conducts medical examinations on a 14-year-old male orangutan found with air gun metal pellets embedded in his body in Sibolangit district in northern Sumatra island, April 16, 2014.Sutanta Aditya—AFP/Getty Images
By Eliana Dockterman

This orangutan was rescued near the Langkat district on April 15 with air gun metal pellets in his body, the victim of a worsening poaching crisis in a country where primate habitats are shrinking due to the land being converted to palm oil plantations.

Indonesia’s ministry of forestry personnel and the Orangutan Information Center have rescued and cared for hundreds of critically-endangered orangutans from palm oil plantations, poachers and pet owners. Over 200 have been reintroduced into the wild.

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com