{
  "id": 6393186,
  "title": "Rescuers scramble to save orangutans as El Niño-boosted fires spread across Borneo",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/rescuers-scramble-to-save-orangutans-as-el-nino-boosted-fires-spread",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-09T07:03:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mongabay",
    "slug": "mongabay",
    "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-scramble-to-save-orangutans-as-el-nino-boosted-fires-spread-across-borneo/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "BANJARMASIN, Indonesia - As a strengthening El Niño fuels wildfires across much of Indonesia, conservationists are racing against time to save orangutans from the burning landscapes. Seven orangutans have been rescued through August by Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO. The Bornean orangutan, the only species found on the island of Borneo, is critically endangered. With an estimated 100,000 remaining in the wild as of the last assessment in 2016, conservationists warn of an alarming projected decline of around 86% between 1950 and 2025. This population collapse over three generations is primarily attributed to habitat loss and direct killing. Orangutans reproduce exceptionally slowly, with females typically birthing a single offspring every seven to eight years, making recovery from losses particularly slow. Major wildfire crises, such as those expected through October due to climate forecasts predicting a strengthening El Niño, can accelerate declines, with such events occurring roughly once every decade.",
  "summary": "BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — As a strengthening El Niño fuels wildfires across much of Indonesia, NGO and government conservationists are at work in forests here trying to save an increasing number of orangutans from burning landscapes. “Seven individuals were rescued through August,” said Heribertus Suciadi, spokesperson for Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO…",
  "key_points": [
    "El Niño fuels wildfires across Indonesia.",
    "YIARI rescues 7 orangutans by August.",
    "Bornean orangutan population projected to decline 86% by 2025."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Rescuers' urgent efforts to save orangutans underscore the critical threat that El Niño-boosted fires pose to the already dwindling population of this critically endangered species, which is struggling to recover from habitat loss and killing.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}