Raden Putri Alpadillah Ginanjar, Jakarta – The Central Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) evacuated a male orangutan named Sugiman after receiving a report from residents of Mendawai Seberang Village in Arut Selatan District, Kotawaringin Barat Regency, Central Kalimantan, on July 30, 2025.
Dendi Setiadi, the Head of the Conservation Section for BKSDA Kalteng II, stated that the report, which came in the evening at around 3:55 PM WIB (Western Indonesian Time), was quickly responded to by his unit along with the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI).
According to Dendi, Sugiman is approximately 30 years old and weighs around 80 kilograms. His condition was deemed healthy upon examination by the medical team. "He was declared fit for release on July 31," he told Tempo on Tuesday, August 5, 2025.
He ensured that this wild orangutan did not intend to enter the residential area. Human activities may have opened up land in what is actually the orangutan's natural habitat. The orangutan Sugiman, Dendi said, was found near an oil palm plantation opening. The location is included in the conversion production forest (HPK) area.
Learning from this incident, Dendi urged local communities not to damage the orangutan's habitat. Converting forests into cultivation areas often leads to human-wildlife conflicts, including those involving protected animals.
The Ministry of Forestry previously stated that there are still 71,820 individual Bornean Orangutans scattered across 42 population pockets. 60,060 individuals of that total are in Indonesia. Further analysis reveals that there are also 13,710 individual Sumatran Orangutans in 10 population pockets, as well as 760 Tapanuli Orangutans in 2 population pockets. This data is based on the Population and Habitat Viability Analysis (PHVA) in 2016.
The remaining Bornean Orangutan population is distributed across almost the entire island of Borneo. Meanwhile, Sumatran Orangutans are only found in the northern part, along the border of North Sumatra and Aceh, Tapanuli Selatan. Some are also scattered in the central part of Sumatra, namely in the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park.
The Director General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation at the Ministry of Forestry, Satyawan Pudyatmoko, stated that orangutan conservation is highly complex. "The challenges involve various factors, including human activities and natural changes," he said in January 2025.
He mentioned several obstacles to orangutan conservation, ranging from habitat loss, illegal hunting and trading, conflicts with humans, climate change, as well as the lack of funds and resources. Other problems include weak monitoring and law enforcement, population isolation, and disease factors.
To preserve this animal population, Satyawan claimed that the Ministry of Forestry has been intensifying various programs, from habitat restoration, protection and security of the orangutan population and habitat, education and public awareness campaigns, as well as strengthening breeding programs ex-situ, meaning the breeding of animals outside their natural habitat.