500 ORANGUTANS NOW LIVING IN SEMTARUM PARK

Pontianak, W Kalimantan, Nov 16 (ANTARA) - The number of orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus) at the Sentarum lake national park (TNDS) has dropped by 62 percent compared to that 10 years ago when their number reached 1,300 orangutans.
An officer of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia Albertius Tjiu said here Sunday that changes in nature and atmosphere around the TNDS was thought as the main cause of the decrease in the orangutan population.
"For 2008, the number might total about five hundred in the TNDS," he said,
He also said that a survey and intensive observation were needed to get the latest data on the orangutans in TNDS.
Albertius said that TNDS has a great many orangutans in its
130 thousand hectares of land, but the area is suitable for these primates.
Meanwhile, in the 800,000-hectare wide Betung Kerihun National Park (THBK), only half of its wide is suitable for 1,030 orangutans.
He said that it was also found that orangutans were kept by people living in the vicinity of TNDS.
"The orangutans were initially kept as pets, but when we visited them at a different time, the orangutans had been passed on" he said.
At the moment, the local administration converted TNDS area into coconut plantations.
In Kapuas regency , one baby orangutan is priced at around Rp500,000 to Rp1 million. Meanwhile in Ketapang regency, the price is lower, at Rp300,000 each.
Albertus Tjiu said that people only kept orangutans when they were still very young.
"Orangutans are hard to keep if they are big, " he said.
To get a baby orangutan, first they have to kill the mother.
"If a baby orangutan is found by the local people, it is sure that the mother has been killed or had died," he said.