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Orangutan filmed trying to fight off digger destroying its jungle home

Logging has destroyed vast swathes of animals' natural habitat in Borneo

Oliver Wheaton
Thursday 07 June 2018 17:32 BST
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Orangutan appears to try and stop bulldozer from destroying its natural habitat

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An orangutan has been filmed seemingly defending its home from being demolished by loggers.

The animal was seen fruitlessly lashing out against a digger in the Sungai Putri forest in Borneo, Indonesia as loggers bulldozed through.

The video, which was reportedly filmed in 2013 but only released on Tuesday, was shot by International Animal Rescue, an animal welfare charity.

Posting the footage to Facebook, the charity wrote: "This desperate orangutan is frantically seeking refuge from the destructive power of the bulldozer; a machine that has already decimated everything else around him."

The charity were able to rescue the orangutan from the situation, however they warned of the affects logging has had on the animals' homes, forcing them to areas with humans nearby which "frequently leads to conflict with humans".

World Wildlife Fund say worldwide orangutan population has halved in the past 60 years, while 55 per cent of the animals' natural habitats have been destroyed in the past 20 years.

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