Ape Crusaders

Many people will know orangutans are anendangered species, but not necessarily realisethat this endearing and familiar animal will possiblybecome the first of the remaining four great apesto become extinct in our lifetime. A rapidlygrowing number of people are now becomingaware of the Ape Crusaders and the extraordinarylengths to which they go to save orangutans.Exclusively because of logging, in recent yearslargely driven by oil palm production, orangutannumbers are falling so fast it is estimated they willbe wiped out within twenty years. Someorangutans may remain in Malaysia, but across theborder in Indonesia there seems little hope.What hope there is increasingly depends on asmall, very pro-active group: The Centre forOrangutan Protection (COP).In fewer than four years COP's Ape Crusaderteam has saved thousands of hectares of forest andrescued dozens of orangutans over an area closeto 500,000 square kms.Their 4 x wheel driveApe Crusader truck donated by British charityOrangutan Appeal UK is in constant use, day andnight, 365 days a year, taking the COP RapidResponseTeam to far away locations whereorangutans need rescuing from forests beinglogged. The work of COP is always difficult andfrequently dangerous.