This Orangutan And Her Adorable Baby Were Just Days From Death When Rescued

This female orangutan and her adorable baby were just days from starvation when they were rescued, according to the British charity that found them.

The International Animal Rescue (IAR), which is based in East Sussex, saved the pair from the burnt-out forests of West Borneo, where large swathes of the animals have been wiped out.

The images, released by the organisation, show the baby clinging to her emaciated mum while vets tend to them both.

The mum, aged around 20 and named Mama Nam by her rescuers, was so malnourished she could no longer produce milk for her baby, named Nam.

Rescuers said it was the worst case of starvation they have encountered among orangutans in the fire-hit region.

The apes were rescued from a plantation after villagers in Semanai, Simpang Tiga, complained that the starving animals were eating their crops.

Mum, baby and vets (PA)

Despite Mama Nam’s weak state, it took three anaesthetic darts to subdue her.

IAR vet Ayu Budi Handayani said: “It is amazing that, despite the fact that she was so skinny and weak, this mother was still determined to protect her baby.

"She had already undergone the trauma of fleeing from the fires and losing all sources of food and shelter, and then she had to contend with being hit by an anaesthetic dart and caught in a net.

"The poor thing couldn’t know that we were there to help, not harm, her.

"The mother and baby were taken to IAR’s orang-utan rehabilitation centre in Ketapang. And it is hoped they will soon be fit enough to be released into a protected area of forest with plentiful supplies of food.

IAR programme director Karmele Llano Sanchez said: "It is heartbreaking to see wild orang-utans in this extreme state of starvation.

The pair were likely days from death (PA)

"We are still dealing with the consequences of the fires that devastated large forested areas in Ketapang last year.

"And we are expecting a long drought season again this year as a result of the El Nino, with the risk of more forest fires to come.

"We are already making plans to prevent a recurrence of last year’s fires which destroyed some of the forest at our own centre.

"But the horror of rescuing animals from the burning forest and seeing their habitats wiped out before our very eyes is almost impossible to bear.”