Fires claim 1,000 orang-utans

Forest fires are thought to have led to the deaths of a thousand orang-utans in Indonesia during the dry season.



The fires, which produced thick smoke across South-East Asia, have affected food supplies and forced the apes near towns and villages, where they have been attacked, Borneo Orang-utan Survival Foundation said.

There were about 56,000 orang-utans in the wild in 2002 but the population has fallen by 6,000 a year, conservationists say.

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