Animal cruelty in any shape or form causes a public outcry. Such is the case with Hope the orangutan who was senselessly shot 74 times with an air gun, causing her injuries and grief,
Multiple wounds and a broken collar bone are alongside other suspected injuries.
Hope was shot with an air rifle which left her blind, and she had multiple open wounds along with a broken collar bone. In addition to this, there were some indications that she had other injuries that were suspected of being caused by sharp objects.
Just as if things weren’t bad enough for Hope she suffered a terrible loss
Not only did Hope have to deal with the pain of her wounds, but she also had to suffer the emotional loss of her baby. Hope’s four-week-old baby died because Hope was so gravely injured; she was not able to feed the offspring. As a result, the primate died from malnutrition.
Hope’s future will consist of captivity, and she will no longer roam the wild.
Although she did survive, her future is not looking bright. She will never be able to return to her natural habitat again, mainly due to her age and the difficulty in removing the 64 remaining pellets.
Now, a court decision that is beyond the belief of those who believe in justice.
Most would think that with such a cruel act as this that the courts would have imposed the heaviest punishment possible on the sixteen and seventeen-year-olds that did this. This was not the case, and the sentence imposed caused great public dissatisfaction. It only amounts to the youths having to perform community services like clean the mosque in their area, spend one month saying their evening prayers, and to say they were sorry for what they did.
Weak laws and legislature that just isn’t being enforced
When it comes to animal welfare there is some legislation in place that deals with animal cruelty . These laws are Article 1(42) Number 18, 2009 which is the Husbandry and Animal Health law. Then there is part 2 of this law Article 66. These laws recognize that animals can be frightened and can feel discomfort and pain.
According to the World Animal Protection Organization
“The lack of enforcement mechanisms for failure to comply with the animal welfare provisions of Law 18 of 2009, together with the fact that enforcement mechanisms (including fines and imprisonment) do exist for some of the other provisions of Law 18 of 2009, suggests that this does not have high priority for improvement.” World Animal Protection
This baby orangutan was one of the lucky ones to survive, but not one of the lucky ones to avoid pain and suffering.
Didik is just another example of a shooting of Orangutan in Indonesia. Fortunately, this little guy survived after having surgery.
According to the World Wildlife organization, several species of orangutans are endangered. The Bornean Orangutan is an endangered species, and the Sumatran is critically endangered.
Sad to say that Hope is not the only orangutan to be subjected to pain and suffering
What happened to Hope is tragic, and unfortunately, she is not the only one to experience this type of pain and suffering. In February of 2018 an Orangutan in Borneo was shot 130 times leading to his death. This incident is just one of several.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
