WEBVTT 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:08.819 This baby orangutan is enjoying a snack at a wildlife conservation facility in the jungles 00:00:08.819 --> 00:00:14.989 of Indonesian Borneo. It lives there along with nearly 100 others, most of which were 00:00:14.989 --> 00:00:21.629 rescued from forests ravaged by wildfires. Since July. Intense blazes have been sweeping 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:27.629 through the country, mainly on Borneo and Sumatra Islands. Now the government says the 00:00:27.629 --> 00:00:33.069 fires could continue until November amid dry weather caused by a severe El Nino weather 00:00:33.069 --> 00:00:39.859 pattern. It's the worst wildfires Indonesia has seen in a decade, and it's been endangering 00:00:39.918 --> 00:00:44.798 all three species of orangutan, which are native only to Borneo and Sumatra. 00:00:47.048 --> 00:00:53.770 Yayasan Initiai Alam Rehabilitai Indonesia or Yari has rescued 49 of the great 00:00:53.770 --> 00:01:00.250 apes since August. A spokesperson from the foundation said that compares to just 3 or 5 of 00:01:00.250 --> 00:01:06.879 the animals in a normal year. Now amid the wildfires, the center conducts regular 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:13.448 rescue missions based on reports of orangutan sightings. A patrol unit uses drones to surveil 00:01:13.448 --> 00:01:20.400 areas scorched by fires and checks if any of the apes are living there. It's 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:27.079 currently the dry season and fires are occurring in many areas. As a result, 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:31.760 orangutans are being displaced into plantations. We've received numerous reports 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:38.519 during this period. The 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:44.168 orangutan patrol unit team works across nearly 10 villages, and so far we've evacuated 00:01:44.168 --> 00:01:49.930 orangutans from 4 villages where they had become isolated in plantation areas. 00:01:54.638 --> 00:02:01.198 Yari veterinarian Isma Maula says respiratory illnesses from wildfire smoke pose the most 00:02:01.198 --> 00:02:08.159 immediate threat. In August, Reuters encountered Saurna, an orangutan who was found 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:14.558 gasping for air on the ground in a palm oil plantation. The veterinarian who attended to 00:02:14.558 --> 00:02:20.949 her said the ape died less than 12 hours after being rescued. An investigation showed she had 00:02:20.949 --> 00:02:27.639 dark lungs like those of a heavy smoker. From January to July of this year, wildfires 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:34.240 burned around 500,000 acres in Indonesia. No official data has been released since, but 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:39.929 non-governmental organizations estimate at least 3 times that area has burned since. 00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:48.409 Yari co-founder Carmela Yano Sanchez said the organization had dedicated staff trained to 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:55.300 fight the fires. And while there is no escape from the smoke caused by the blazes even at the 00:02:55.300 --> 00:03:01.338 conservation center, it is not currently at risk of burning down. For now then, the rescued 00:03:01.338 --> 00:03:07.538 orangutans can call this place home. At the moment we still have enough room to continue 00:03:07.538 --> 00:03:13.479 rescuing more orangutans, but uh we obviously don't know because it's difficult to quantify 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:19.788 how many orangutans will need to rescue and evacuate to the rehabilitation center. So it's 00:03:19.788 --> 00:03:26.649 uh one of our worries and 11 of our concerns is uh whether we'll have enough capacity 00:03:27.149 --> 00:03:32.750 to to really get all of these uh rescue orangutans into the facility.