Palm oil expansion has devastated orangutan habitat across Borneo and Sumatra, and welfare interventions must address both direct rescue and landscape-level conservation.
Orangutan welfare exists at the intersection of individual rescue and landscape-level conservation. Individual orangutans entering palm oil landscapes face killing by plantation workers or capture for the pet trade. Orphaned infants in rehabilitation centers require years of intensive care. The root cause — habitat destruction — means individual rescue cannot solve the welfare problem at scale. Meaningful orangutan welfare improvement requires both continued rescue and rehabilitation investment and transformation of the palm oil industry to prevent further habitat destruction.