Borneo’s apes face extinction as jungle shrinks. “Environmentalists say that in the past decade, the number of apes on Borneo and nearby
Sumatra islands has halved to about 25,000. Within another 10 years, they are likely to be
extinct if the government does not act urgently.

But swift action to protect the environment is not of the highest concern to Indonesian politicians at
the moment. The economy is in tatters; a political crisis is occupying leaders, and communal
fighting is gripping much of the world’s fourth-most-populous country.

Throughout this sprawling archipelagic country, loggers are wiping out centuries-old tropical rain
forests, much of them illegally, as fast as the trees can be chain-sawed. Even national parks, the
last sanctuaries for many species, are being destroyed.” Here’s a blink to the Balikpapan Orangutan Survival Foundation, for those who might think efforts on behalf of the survival of the ‘gentle apes’ are perhaps at least as worthy as those on behalf of their less gentle cousins. Toronto Globe and Mail