Orangutan saved by vets after being found blind and riddled with air rifle pellets

Orangutan
An orangutan has been saved after being found blind and riddled with 24 pellets (Picture: Facebook/SOCP)

An orangutan found blind with 24 air pellets in his body has been saved after a team of vets removed three from his head.

The orangutan, named Paguh by his rescuers and thought to be about 25 years old, is suspected to have been shot by poachers.

He was found in Aceh, Indonesia last week and taken to an orangutan rehabilitation centre in North Sumatra, where vets tried to remove all of the remaining shrapnel, where vets managed to stabilise his condition.

The animal’s plight was shared by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), which said the team of vets had tried to remove all 24 pellets from his body but couldn’t.

It’s not the first time an orangutan has been found riddled with pellets - earlier this year shocked wildlife officials who rescued an injured critically endangered orangutan and her starving baby found 74 air gun pellets lodged in her body.

Orangutan
A team of vets managed to remove three pellets from Paguh's head (Picture: Facebook/SOCP)

In a Facebook post the organisation said: “From the examination and an x-ray he totally blind and we found 24 air rifle bullets on his body.

“Now Paguh is still under the care of our team and we will keep monitoring to him and provide intensive care until he get well soon but he cannot be released to the wild anymore because he blind.

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Castri Delfi Saragih, a communicaton officer from the organisation, told the Jakarta Post that Paguh - whose name means strong - was in a stable condition after the team took three pellets from his head.

According to reports, x-rays showed there were 16 pellets in Paguh’s head, four in his arms and legs, three in his hip and one in his stomach.

Orangutan
Paguh was found riddled with pellets (Picture: Facebook/SOCP)

Vets reportedly said that at first they hoped Paguh’s eyes weren’t completely damage but they found he was blind in both eyes.

SOCP has said it’s not the first time an orangutan has been found riddled with pellets and in the past decade it has treated around 20 who had suffered a similar plight.

Please support us to give the best for Paguh and other orangutans for their better life.
More information about Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), please visit: www.sumatranorangutan.org