Forestry Ministry handled 290 wild animals hit by forest fires
Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry has handled 290 wild animals affected by forest and land fires as of October 8, 2026, with the majority of rescue operations concentrated in Kalimantan, where 272 animals were evacuated or treated across four provinces.
The rescue effort includes 96 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), a species classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List since 2016 and facing an extremely high risk of extinction. Twenty-five of these orangutans were handled in Central Kalimantan province alone.
Head of Public Relations and Foreign Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Forestry Ristianto Pribadi clarified that the orangutan figure represents overall handling data in Central Kalimantan, not exclusively the number directly affected in Tanjung Puting National Park, where fire suppression operations remain active. The 416,040-hectare national park, designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1982, is estimated to contain approximately 6,000 orangutans, making it one of the largest wild populations of the species in the world.
The Natural Resources Conservation Agencies (BKSDA), Indonesia's technical implementation unit responsible for wildlife conservation and rescue operations, carried out the animal handling efforts in Kalimantan. Their interventions ranged from evacuation and rescue to herding animals toward safer habitats, translocation, and providing care and rehabilitation.
Fire suppression intensifies amid challenging conditions
Pribadi assured that the government continues strengthening fire suppression efforts at affected locations. In Tanjung Puting specifically, additional officers will be mobilized, including personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police.
The suppression efforts face particular challenges in Central Kalimantan's peatlands, which are vulnerable to fires that burn underground for extended periods even after surface flames are controlled. Forest fires represent one of the main threats to orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park, alongside illegal logging, mining, and human-orangutan disease transmission.
Indonesia's Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya reported that the government has deployed more than 60,000 joint personnel to carry out ground fire suppression operations in several regions, especially Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra. These reports were presented to President Prabowo Subianto at a limited meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday, October 12.
Suppression operations are currently ongoing on land totaling 639 hectares across six provinces, with concentrations in Kalimantan and Sumatra. Between January and July 2026, more than 202,000 hectares of land were burned by fires across Indonesia, representing a 69 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025. West Kalimantan has recorded the largest cumulative burned area of any province during the 2026 fires, with 38,310 hectares affected as of August 2026.
