Billy from Borneo
In the years 1987 and 1988 a forest fire raged through Borneo and killed one third of the orang- utan population. It is generally believed that the fire was started by a palm – oil company trying to clear forest for new plantations.
This story is about a family of orang – utans and a human farming family just before this incident. Most of us love these cute creatures, the orang-utans, only three percent of our DNA doesn´t match theirs. The rest is identical. However, we humans have a terrible track record of treating humans unfairly, perhaps it is too much to ask the people of Borneo to find other solutions when they are trying to get rid of this “agricultural pest.”
So there you have it. These creatures are loved abroad but would you be happy if they crept into your garden and ate all the vegetables you were relying on to avoid starvation. And they are not that inclined to take no for an answer, they are just like us, a stubborn lot. Maybe before we get angry with the farmers we should try to understand that they are trying to survive too.
Billy Orang-utan was swinging in the trees one day.
His mother, the great long-arm of the law in the family jumped into the tree he was swinging from.
“Billy,” she started, “ go gather your brothers and sisters and meet me in the sleeping trees, we have to have a big chat.”
Billy had one sister and one brother and that was a lot for an orang-utan family. His father wasn´t the most social with the family, he was a bit of a loner but he did his best to protect them when he was around. Billy used his long red hairy arms to travel fast along the ground to where his brother and sister were using leaves as spoons to scoop out some insects that were running frantically into tree log gaps. They had no problem getting at them and they were enjoying their tasty meal.
Billy ran over to them and told them to meet at the sleeping trees and not be late. Mother had some important news for them. They followed him but not before tucking a small log full of insects under each arm.