British vet hopes to restore sight of blind orangutan shot 100 times

A rescued orangutan who was blinded after being shot 104 times with an air rifle is set to undergo surgery to restore her eyesight — and could even return to the wild.

Aan was left permanently blinded in her left eye and her right eye was badly damaged after she was attacked in 2012 on a palm oil plantation in Indonesian Borneo.

A three-hour operation saw around one third of the pellets removed, around 34 of which had lodged in her head.

Since making headlines across the world, the endangered primate has been cared for by the Orangutan Foundation in an enclosure in the Lamandau River wildlife reserve in Borneo.

But now a volunteer British vet believes a simple cataract operation could restore sight her right eye — which may allow her to survive outside of captivity.

Claudia Hartley said: “I’m really hopeful that actually we may be able to give her vision, and then, even though she will only be one-eyed, she will be able to be released because primates can still forage one-eyed.

“She’s a wild animal that’s currently in an enclosure, and that’s quite miserable for an animal that’s as intelligent as an orangutan.

“It’s akin to a human being in a prison cell, and that’s her life 24/7 — it’s the best that the charity can offer her because it keeps her safe, it keeps her fed.”

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The 44-year-old, from Cambridge, first came in contact with Aan during a visit to the region in September.

Ashley Leiman OBE, director of the Orangutan Foundation, said the news was “incredibly exciting”.

She said: “As a blind orangutan, she was going to spend the rest of her life in a cage. If it happens it will be absolutely amazing. She will be able to be released into the wild, she will be able to survive perfectly well with one eye.”

Bornean orangutan populations have declined by more than 50 per cent over the past 60 years, and the species’ habitat has been reduced by at least 55 per cent over the past 20 years, according to the WWF.

The organisation puts the total numbers at somewhere between 45,000 and 69,000.