Heartbreaking footage has been released by Caters News of an orangutan trying to fight off a bulldozer illegally destroying its habitat for logging.
The incident took place in the Ketapang District, West Borneo, and was filmed by the International Animal Rescue (IAR) who arrived at the scene to ensure that the animal wasn't harmed by the destruction.
In the clip, the orangutan can be seen standing on a fallen tree, approaching the bulldozer tentatively at first. When it gets closer, much to the shock of onlookers, the animal then tries to physically attack it.
This orangutan, however, was not willing to let its home go without a fight:Unfortunately, this habitat destruction is responsible for many species of orangutan becoming endangered, with Bornean Orangutan numbers halving since 1950, according to the Scientific American.
When the IAR charity posted the shocking footage to Facebook, the Independent reports, it was accompanied by the following caption: "This desperate orangutan is frantically seeking refuge from the destructive power of the bulldozer; a machine that has already decimated everything else around him."
"Unfortunately, scenes like this are becoming more and more frequent in Indonesia," IAR wrote about the video. "Deforestation has caused the orangutan population to plummet; habitats are destroyed and orangutans are left to starve and die."
The IAR revealed that despite the altercation between the animal and the bulldozer, it was successfully rescued, The Dodo have since reported.
According to the charity, logging frequently results in "conflict with humans", typically because it forces orangutans out of their natural habitat in the rainforest and into residential areas.
To shed further light on this issue, in late 2018 British supermarket chain Iceland created a video to reveal how the use of palm oil, which is used in over half of supermarket products, is having a detrimental effect on orangutan habitats.
But the advert was banned by television authorities for because it allegedly breached the 2003 Communications Act which prohibits politically charged advertising:It has been estimated that unless drastic action is taken to preserve orangutan habitats, they will become extinct within the next 100 years, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature reports.
