保育人士指出，印尼刀耕火種釀成大火一發不可收拾，自九月中旬開始密佈濃煙瀰漫，已造成數百隻瀕絕紅毛猩猩因故嗆死。「婆羅洲紅毛猩猩生存基金會」指出，發生於卡里曼丹的森林與泥煤地大火已奪走逾1千隻紅毛猩猩之性命。婆羅洲人猿保護基金會（BOS）主持人史密斯（Willie Smits）指出：「大火使得許多猩猩產生脫水、呼吸道受損症狀以及食物缺乏等痛苦，甚至導致永久的傷害。」
大火最早由一家棕櫚油工廠開始施放，之後在婆羅洲以及蘇門達臘島的火勢開始失去控制，使得新加坡、馬來西亞、泰國甚至遠達東方3,600公里外的關島，都遭受霾害。在這些區域的學校及機場都必須關閉，同時當局也建議民眾不要外出。
大火焚燒的規模甚至已經接近1997-98年的程度，當時的狀況使得空中交通癱瘓，以及經濟活動停滯，損失高達900萬美元，並且造成1/3數量的猩猩滅絕。 2006年的大火破壞了猩猩的棲息地，導致牠們必須離開雨林。猩猩為了逃離焚燒的雨林，尋找食物與安全生活環境，往往會進入鄰近的棕櫚油農場，而被人們驅趕傷害。
基金會人員說到，現場回報來的情形可用「恐怖」來形容，基金會的救援小組更是馬不停蹄加緊作業。面對多年的保育工作心血毀於一旦，基金會人員感嘆地說：「我們曾在4月間野放42隻猩猩的區域，現在都在大火焚燒中，部分的人猿保護區也不能倖免。」
Nyaru Menteng猩猩保育中心副主任哈迪在文章中寫到：「在Agro Bukit特區的森林大火，我們相信是由農場經理人指使工人縱火的。猩猩們從焚燒的森林逃到農場，許多猩猩都被屠殺了！我們的救援小組努力拯救他們，將他們移往其他區域去。我們還扶養了4隻成為孤兒的小猩猩。」同時也發現其他腳燒傷的猩猩以及被農場工人砍斷四肢的猩猩。
根據國際自然保育聯盟（IUCN）的資料，印尼擁有全世界最多的瀕臨絕種動物，大約有146種。亞洲象就是其中之一，目前全世界僅存約5萬頭，外加1萬頭被囚禁饌養著的。他們的棲息地普遍被人類侵佔，現在又再加上森林大火的破壞。
Fires set to clear land in Indonesia have choked the country in a thick, smoky haze since mid-September and have killed hundreds of endangered orangutans, conservationists said today. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation says that forest and peat land fires in Kalimantan have killed about 1,000 orangutans.
"The fires have caused a number of orangutans to suffer from dehydration, respiratory problems, lack of food and even sustained injuries due to the fires," said the foundation's coordinator Willie Smits.
Fires, primarily set by palm oil companies, are burning out of control in Indonesian Borneo and on the island of Sumatra, sending a choking haze over Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and as far away as Guam, 3,600 kilometers to the east. Schools and airports in the region have been closed, and people advised to stay indoors.
The fires now have nearly reached the level they did in 1997-98, when they cost the region an estimated US$9 billion in disruptions to air travel and other business activities, and wiped out a third of the existing population of orangutans.
This year, the fires have destroyed orangutan habitat and forced the animals out of the rainforest. Orangutans flee the burning forest in search of food and safety, often into nearby palm oil plantations, where they are beaten by humans.
The reports from the field are "horrendous," the foundation said, and their rescue teams have been working non-stop. "The area where we released 42 wild orangutans in March is now on fire, as well as parts of the Mawas Reserve," the foundation said, contemplating the ruin of its years of costly conservation work.
Hardi, the assistant manager at Nyaru Menteng, wrote, "There is a big forest fire in the Agro Bukit concession. We believe that it burn by workers under the order of plantation management. Orangutans run burning forest to plantation and many of them killed! Our rescue team works hard to save them by translocate to another area. We got four orphaned babies." Other orangutans have been found with burned feet, or with limbs cut off by plantation workers.
Indonesia has the highest number of threatened species of mammals in the world, around 146, according to IUCN-World Conservation Union. Among these is the Asian elephant, with an estimated 50,000 remaining in the wild, plus another 10,000 in captivity. Their habitat is in danger from widespread human encroachment, and now from the wildfires as well.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
