Don't hurt my baby! Pregnant orang-utan protectively hugs her daughter as ruthless Borneo bounty hunters move in for the kill

-Pair saved at last minute by Brit-based animal rescue group
-Palm oil firms trying to clear plantations said to be offering £70 for each orang-utan killed on the Borneo palm oil plantations

By RICHARD SHEARS

Saved: 'Our arrival could not have been more timely. A few minutes later and the orang-utans could have been dead' said Dr Signe Preuschoft, a Four Paws primate expert after the dramatic Borneo rescue

As bounty hunters with bush knives entrapped them in a circle and moved in for the kill, the only thing this mother orang-utan could think to do was to wrap a giant protective arm around her daughter.
The pair seemed to be facing a certain death as a gang of hunters surrounded them in Borneo, keen to cash in on the palm oil plantations' bid to be rideof the animals.
But, happily, a team from the British-based international animal rescue group Four Paws arrived in time to stop the slaughter and saved their lives.

Saved: 'Our arrival could not have been more timely. A few minutes later and the orang-utans could have been dead' said Dr Signe Preuschoft, a Four Paws primate expert

The pregnant mother and daughter were captured and moved to a remote and safe area of the rainforest and released back into the wild - but not before the mother was equipped with a radio device so she and her young can be tracked to ensure they remain safe.
'Our arrival could not have been more timely,' said Dr Signe Preuschoft, a Four Paws primate expert.
Mother and daughter were captured and moved to a remote and safe area of the rainforest and released back into the wild - but not before the mother was equipped with a radio device so she and her young can be tracked to ensure they remain safe.

Rescue: When the animal rescue group found the 'clearly petrified' mother and baby they discovered a gang of young men who were looking to cash in on the palm oil companies' offer of £70 per orang-utan

'Our arrival could not have been more timely,' said Dr Signe Preuschoft, a Four Paws primate expert.
'A few minutes later and the orang-utans could have been dead.
'We discovered a gang of young men surrounding them and both victims were clearly petrified.
'The gang meanwhile were jubilant in anticipation of their rewards for catching and killing the animals. These massacres must not be allowed to continue.'

Fresh start: The apes were released back to rapidly decreasing wilderness elsewhere in Indonesia by the charity group

Before the rescue, a Four Paws team had scoured the area on the Indonesian side of Borneo, which is shared with Malaysia, but found no other orang-utans which had survived an earlier slaughter.
Deforestation has dramatically reduced their habitat and their numbers have dropped from 250,000 a few decades ago to only 50,000 in the wild.

Everything must go: The plantations, which are carving great swathes through south-east asia as they cut down trees to farm palm oil for the West, view the orang-utans as a pest

Company executives are reported to be offering up to £70 to employees for each orang-utan killed on the palm oil plantations.
While such stories were at first denied, proof of the slaughter emerged last September when graves and bones were found by investigators.
'Killing of orang-utans is illegal in Indonesia but the law is lacking enforcement,' said a British Four Paws spokesman.

source: dailymail