Hope, an Orangutan, Was Shot 74 Times. She Was Blinded but Survived.
Source: New York Times
Hope, an Orangutan, Was Shot 74 Times. She Was Blinded but Survived.
By Liam Stack
March 18, 2019
An endangered orangutan who rescue workers named Hope was found blinded and near death last week on an oil palm plantation in Indonesia after she was stabbed and shot 74 times by an air rifle, according to the Orangutan Information Centre, a conservation group. Her malnourished month-old baby was by her side, it said.
Mother and baby were rushed to a veterinary clinic by the group’s Human and Orangutan Conflict Response Unit soon after they were found on March 10 in the village of Bunga Tanjung in Aceh province, on the island of Sumatra.
But the child, which the group said was found in “serious traumatic and malnourished conditions,” died on its way to the clinic.
“This orangutan, that we named Hope after thousand hopes for her future, is one of most tragic orangutans that we ever come across,” the information center said in a statement last week. The group did not respond to a request for comment on Monday night.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/world/asia/orangutan-shot-gun.html
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Veterinarians and volunteers tend to a female orangutan, named Hope, after a surgery to remove dozens of air rifle pellets from her body in Indonesia on March 17, 2019.Binsar Bakkara / AP
Source: Associated Press
Orangutan blinded after being shot dozens of times with air gun
March 18, 2019, 12:11 PM EDT
By Associated Press
SIBOLANGIT, Indonesia — An endangered orangutan with a young baby on Indonesia's Sumatra island was blinded after being shot at least 74 times with an air gun, an official and veterinarian said Monday.
An X-ray showed at least 74 air gun pellets in its body, including four in its left eyes and two in the right, said Yenny Saraswati, a veterinarian with the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program. She said the animal, named "Hope" by the team of rescuers, was blinded by the shooting and also had several open wounds believed to have been caused by sharp objects.
She said Hope underwent surgery on Sunday to repair a broken collarbone and was recovering.
Conflicts between orangutans and people have increased as the palm oil and paper industries shrink the animals' jungle habitat.
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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/orangutan-blinded-after-being-shot-dozens-times-air-gun-n984426
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