Before the deadly landslides and floods hit Indonesia about two weeks ago, Amran Siagian, 39, frequently met Tapanuli orangutans on a hill in the region of Sipirok, North Sumatra province.
Siagian, who has been working as a ranger to protect the endangered animal at the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) for at least five years, remembers how the orangutans were fond of eating durian and other fruits from farms in the area.
But after the landslides hit Sipirok, the orangutans are nowhere to be seen.
The cyclone-induced floods and landslides have killed 962 people as of Tuesday, with 291 listed as missing. The storms also killed about 200 people in southern Thailand and Malaysia.
“They must have moved away, further and further away. I could no longer hear their voices,” Siagian said.
Local leaders and green groups said deforestation linked to mining and logging aggravated the impact of the floods and landslides.
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‘If it’s death, I accept it’: Indonesia flood survivors cling to tree as floods devastate Sumatra
‘If it’s death, I accept it’: Indonesia flood survivors cling to tree as floods devastate Sumatra
In Sipirok, a village in the region of South Tapanuli which was among the hardest hit by the disaster, large trees appear to have been cut down.