A SPECIALIST team from a Sussex charity has rescued a tiny baby orangutan found all alone on a palm oil plantation in West Borneo.

A team from International Animal Rescue, whose head office is in Uckfield, and members of the Natural Resources Conservation Centre in West Borneo travelled to an oil palm plantation in Tanjung Pasar Village in Ketapang District where plantation workers were waiting to hand the baby over. A worker named Rahman claimed to have found the tiny ape crying alone in the bushes. He reported the discovery to the plantation manager who reasoned that the mother might return to fetch her baby and so he should be left where he was. According to Rahman, she had been spotted in the plantation several times during the previous two months.

The baby was only finally reported to the charity after Rahman found the baby still alone in the same place the following day. The rescue team set off immediately to the location. On arrival, vet Aqshar examined the orangutan and found him to be suffering from mild dehydration.

He estimated that he was less than a year old. The team named the little ape Rahman after the man who had found him.