It was late on a Thursday afternoon when a message reached wildlife officers in Central Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo.
Two orangutans had been seen near a village. A mother and her baby.
And something was terribly wrong with the mother’s hands.
A Report From Kandan Village
The call came from Kandan Village in East Kotawaringin Regency, according to Indonesia’s ANTARA news agency.
A local environmental activist named Awil passed on the sighting at about 4:49 p.m. local time on Thursday, October 22.
Officers from the BKSDA, Central Kalimantan’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency, knew these orangutans.
They had already gone looking for the pair on October 12. That time, they could not find them.
Now the mother and baby had appeared again. Officers asked a resident named Karyadi to confirm where the apes were and how they were moving.
They asked locals and activists to keep watching the pair while help was organized.
This was not an easy time for wildlife in the region.
Fires, Smoke and a Mother on the Move
Indonesia has been battling forest and land fires this year.
In an October report, the Associated Press said El Niño had worsened a long dry season across parts of Borneo and Sumatra.
The AP reported that more than 270 wild animals in Kalimantan had been rescued, rehabilitated or guided to safer habitats.
Kompas reported that the mother orangutan was found amid the threat of these fires.
Indonesia’s national police said the team rescued the mother and her baby from the smoke-affected area.
For a mother carrying a baby, every move through a burning, hazy landscape is a risk.
And this mother was carrying something else too. A painful injury on both of her wrists.
A Rescue in the Middle of the Night
Around 7 p.m. that Thursday, a Wildlife Rescue Unit team set out, together with the Orangutan Foundation International, known as OFI, ANTARA reported.
They traveled through the night toward the town of Sampit.
The team reached the site at about 1 a.m. on Friday, October 23, and began the rescue right away.
Police officers, conservation workers, Animal Rescue Sampit, a community group known as PPS and local activists all helped, according to the police and Kompas.
In the dark, the team safely secured both the mother and her baby.
ANTARA reported that Brigadier General Tory Kristianto, from the national police’s wildlife directorate, watched the rescue in person.
Then they took a closer look at the mother.
The Rope Around Her Wrists
What they found was heartbreaking.
A rope was wrapped tightly around both her left and right wrists, said Muriansyah, commander of the BKSDA post in Sampit.
The team cut the rope to free her, he told ANTARA.
The wounds where it had been wrapped were quite severe.
Officers strongly suspect the rope was a snare, the kind commonly used to catch wild pigs.
In other words, she had likely been caught in a trap that was never even meant for her.
A snare like that tightens as an animal pulls against it. The more it pulls, the deeper the rope can cut.
A doctor treated her wounds, and the team finished its first checks.
By about 3 a.m., the rescuers were heading back toward Pangkalan Bun with their two new patients.
Meet Gadis and Garis
The rescuers gave the pair names.
The mother is called Gadis. She is estimated to be about 25 years old and weighs around 30.5 kilograms, or about 67 pounds.
Her baby boy is called Garis.
The police put his age at about nine months. BKSDA officials told ANTARA he is around 10 months old.
Either way, he is still a tiny baby who depends on his mother for everything.
Young orangutans stay with their mothers for years. They learn from her how to find food, climb safely and build a nest to sleep in.
That is why keeping this mother healthy matters so much for her son.
Garis was kept under observation, and blood samples were taken for lab tests, according to Indonesia’s national police.
The tests include checking for possible effects of breathing in smoke from the fires.
Safe Hands for Recovery
After the rescue, both orangutans were handed over to the Central Kalimantan BKSDA for treatment and recovery.
Afterward, they are set to be placed in the care of the OFI foundation, the police said.
The goal is simple: give mother and baby care that fits exactly what they need.
“This rescue demonstrates the importance of a rapid response and cross-agency synergy in protecting wildlife,” said Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko of the national police.
He said police are committed to supporting animal rescue and recovery while also pushing prevention, to limit the damage fires do to wildlife and their habitats.
It Started With One Message
This rescue began with ordinary people paying attention.
An activist who passed on a sighting. A villager who kept an eye on two wild apes.
Muriansyah thanked residents for quickly reporting the protected animals, ANTARA reported.
Their care meant the orangutans could be handled properly, without putting the animals or people in danger.
Bornean orangutans are critically endangered. Every mother who survives to raise her baby matters.
Now, Gadis is free of that rope. She and Garis are both in expert hands.
If you ever see a wild animal in trouble, do what the people of Kandan did. Keep your distance and call the experts.
Would you like an update on Gadis and Garis? Tell us in the comments, and share this story so more people see it.
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