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Flash floods and landslides
in South Tapanuli Regency (Tapsel), North Sumatra (North Sumatra) not only damaged settlements and claimed human lives, but also the rarest animals in the world.
The joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team found the carcass of a Tapanuli orangutan among logs.
SAR volunteer Decky Chandrawan admitted that he found the carcass of the world’s rarest primate in Pulo Pakkat Village, Suka Bangun District, Central Tapanuli Regency on December 3 2025. This discovery began when Decky and a team of volunteers searched for flood victims.
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“The team immediately checked when they heard news from residents about a human carcass among the logs. However, all that was visible was his hand. It was across the river. I immediately said it wasn’t a human. I turned his back, there was fur. It was still visible. The color of the fur, the size of the fingers. I confirmed it was an orangutan carcass,” said Decky, Friday (12/12).
Decky indicated that the dead orangutan was female.The orangutan carcass that Decky and the volunteer team found was in a rotting condition.They did not evacuate the carcass.
“If you look at the size and structure of the jaw (skull), it indicates that it is a juvenile female individual. We had time to dismantle it around. We thought there was a child or another individual. We didn’t find it. Even if we lifted the carcass, we were confused about where to put it. BBKSDA was also not at the location,” he said.
Decky said the orangutan was thought to have been carried away by a flash flood from upstream of the Garoga River.The forest at the head of the Garoga river is the habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan.The discovery of an orangutan carcass is an indication of forest destruction as a trigger for disaster.
“Apart from the orangutan carcasses, we also found logs of wood that were neatly cut,” he said.
Meanwhile, Director of Green Justice Indonesia (GJI) Panut Hadisiswoyo added that the disaster that hit the Greater Tapanuli region (Central Tapanuli, North Tapanuli and South Tapanuli) was triggered by very severe environmental damage.
He highlighted the damage to the Batang Toru ecosystem, which covers three districts, which is the habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan.
“Even before the disaster, this animal was already threatened. The habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan was fragmented in the west block, east block and south block,” he said.
This primate immediately received endangered status as soon as it was announced in 2017. So far, the biggest threats to the existence of the Tapanuli orangutan are deforestation, land change, loss of forest cover for plantations and extractive industries.
“This threat is very difficult for the Tapanuli orangutan because it results in forest fragmentation, so that their home range is disturbed. Changes in the Tapanuli orangutan’s movement space make it isolated or confined in one habitat that is not connected to other habitats,” he said.
Tapanuli orangutans live on higher slopes because in the lowlands some of them have been converted or converted into agricultural land or plantation land or land for extractive industries such as gold mining and hydropower.
According to Panut, what must be done now is to call for upstream, watershed and protected areas not to be touched by extractive activities and also land clearing activities for plantations or agricultural expansion targets.The government must reorganize forest areas and include forested APL areas.
“Forest areas that have been legalized as protected functions are determined by law, but many still need to be protected,” he said.
“If the spatial planning is not healthy, then disaster will come. The condition of the Batang Toru ecosystem is fragile but also important for the survival of life including society and also the biodiversity within it, we urge that the Batang Toru ecosystem be designated as a national strategic area. This is non-negotiable,” he said.
Separately, the Head of Natural Resources Conservation for Region III Padangsidimpuan Susilo said that the orangutan carcass had been evacuated.
After the discovery, he claimed to have assigned personnel with non-governmental organizations to carry out post-disaster monitoring for wildlife.
“We have carried out an evacuation and have been buried in the KSDA area III Padangsidimpuan,” he said briefly.
(fra/fnr/fra)
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