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An adult male orangutan found struggling to breathe in a palm oil plantation on Indonesia’s Borneo died hours after being rescued, authorities said on Thursday.
The orangutan, named Sampurna and believed to be around 20 years old, was found by residents on Sunday morning in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan, an area affected by wildfires.
He was unable to stand and was struggling to breathe when a joint team from the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency and the Indonesian Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Forest and Wildlife (YIARI) arrived, the Forestry Ministry said.
Video footage showed veterinarians giving Sampurna oxygen and intravenous fluids before taking him to a YIARI rehabilitation centre.
His condition deteriorated, however, and he died later that day, the ministry said in a statement.
“We deeply regret that Sampurna could not be saved,” said West Kalimantan natural conservation chief Murlan Dameria Pane in the statement.


A postmortem examination found abnormalities in his lungs, heart and kidneys, suspected to be linked to prolonged smoke exposure and acute hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen, the ministry said.
Sampurna had been monitored by YIARI’s Orangutan Protection Unit on August 16 and was still moving actively at the time. About two weeks later, he was found collapsed in a plantation near areas affected by fires.
His death highlights the threat that forest fires pose to orangutans, which depend on increasingly fragmented forests across Borneo.
Fires can destroy food sources and habitats, forcing the critically endangered animals into plantations and other areas where they are exposed to smoke and potential conflict with people.
Sampurna’s rescue was one of several involving orangutans in West Kalimantan during the current fire season.
Indonesia has been experiencing a severe dry season, with forest and land fires affecting parts of the country. According to the Forestry Ministry, fires burned around 202,004 hectares nationwide between January and July this year.


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An orangutan named Sampurna being treated during a rescue operation at a palm-oil plantation near an area affected by wildfires, in Kuala Satong village, Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

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Veterinarians treat an orangutan named Sampurna during a rescue operation at a palm-oil plantation near an area affected by wildfires, in Kuala Satong village, Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

A peatland firefighting task force extinguishes a fire in the Tambang area of Kampar, in the Riau province, Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, on Thursday. Photo: AFP

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The 20-year-old male orangutan was unable to stand and was struggling to breathe when a joint team of rescuers found him


The 20-year-old male orangutan was unable to stand and was struggling to breathe when a joint team of rescuers found him.


Orangutan in Indonesia dies after exposure to haze fires, abnormalities in lungs

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The 20-year-old male orangutan was unable to stand and was struggling to breathe when a joint team of rescuers found him

The 20-year-old male orangutan was unable to stand and was struggling to breathe when a joint team of rescuers found him