Orangutan Rescued with 74 Air Rifle Pellets in Her Body

The orangutan, estimated to be 30 years old, was rescued on March 9, 2019, with broken bones, bruises and cuts to her legs.PHOTOS: TWITTER/SUTOPO PURWO NUGROHO

A severely wounded orangutan has been found with 74 airgun pellets in her body in Indonesia's Aceh province, officials said Wednesday (March 13). The orangutan, estimated to be 30 years old, was rescued last Saturday in Subulussalam district with broken bones, bruises and cuts to her legs, said Sapto Aji Prabowo, the head of the government-run Nature Conservancy Agency in Aceh on Sumatra island.
"An X-ray photo showed 74 airgun pellets spread all over its body," he said.

A one-month old baby orangutan found with her died from malnutrition while being transported to a rehabilitation centre in North Sumatra province, the Forestry and Environment Ministry said.
The adult orangutan is in stable condition and has been given the name Hope, it said.
"We condemn the savage attack on orangutans carried out by irresponsible people," the ministry said in a statement.

Classified as "critically endangered" species, orangutans number around 111,000 in the wild on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, according to the World Wildlife Fund conservation group. (StraitsTimes)