Indonesian Forest Fires Burns 10m Pythons To Death; Orangutans Get Respiratory Disease

I‘m not sure I even have a haze joke to make anymore.

I mean, seriously.

The haze here in Singapore and Malaysia is bad, but then I think about those in Indonesia feeling the direct effects.

Almost thankful I didn’t plan a trip there.

Unfortunately, do you know what lives in forests? Animals.

And they are seriously feeling the burn from all of this. Literally.

First, It Was Snakes

It’s no secret by now that Jakarta has sent thousands of extra help to help combat the forest fire.

Some of them have come back with pretty horrifying imagery.

In the video by CAN Borneo, a group dedicated to saving wildlife, you can see massive dead snakes from the aftermath of a fire.

The second half then shows a helper dragging a python carcass out and is said to be over 10 metres long and 20cm wide? Dang.

Warning: Video contains scenes of dead animals, avoid if needed.

Watching the video again, I can only imagine how much damage was done.

If this is only one portion of it, I dread to think of how badly damaged other areas are.

CAN Borneo has also surfaced other images of dead snakes, some of which might also be disturbing, so the above warning applies here as well.

It almost looks as if the snake tried to escape before it got caught by the flames. An extremely tragic sight.

Orangutans: Endangered And In Danger

Sadly, the snakes are just but one species suffering from the forest fires and haze. The orangutans are suffering too.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said on 17 September that the haze was affecting hundreds of orangutans in rescue centres and wildlife re-introduction shelters.

According to the Malay Mail, the foundation mentioned that as many as 355 orangutans have been affected by the haze.

In fact, around 37 young ones are suspected to have contracted a mild respiratory infection.

Naturally, the wildfires have also destroyed the orangutan’s natural habitat of the forest, making many of them homeless.

Want even more scary stats?

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the population of orangutan in Borneo has plummeted from about 288,500 in 1973 to about 100,000 today.

It is official, and absolutely mental to think about.

Borneo Island is now also considered hazardous according to environment ministry data, so I suggest you stay out.

Didn’t take the whole fire and haze thing seriously before? I doubt you didn’t.

If not, this better be a stark wake-up call for all of us.