National Geographic Magazine

A wonderful article illustrated by my images covering the work of Panut Hadisiswoyo, Director of OIC in Sumatra is published in November’s issue of National Geographic magazine. Telling the story of how the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutans are trafficked and sold as pets.

Over the years I’ve seen how many people like to keep these peaceful creatures as pets due to their placate natures. The baby is taken from the mother in the wild at force and because Orangutans never give up their babies they are killed, often hacked to death in order for the poachers to get at the baby. It’s one of the most horrible things to imagine and is happening more and more.

The next time you see an Orangutan dressed in human clothes, or made to ride a bike or just pose for photos or behind a cage step back and spare a thought to where the mother is and how that orangutan came to be in that position. Orangutan babies stay with their mothers for up to nine years. It’s the second longest period after humans in the natural world, there is so much to learn and pass on in the testing environment of the jungle.

Its been an amazing year for my Sumatran orangutan images, firstly published in the February’s issue of the BBC Wildlife Magazine and now National Geographic magazine and various different displays and articles. My aim has always been and will continue to try and give these peaceful creatures a voice outside of their home and to stop the total destruction of Sumatra and its wildlife.

Once you’ve seen these beautiful, peaceful  great apes in the wild you can see they are us and we are them and we have to save them from going extinct. More of my images and stories covering these critically endangered Sumatran orangutans can be found on the following links. BBC Wildlife,  BBC News  The Telegraph  GlobalGiving UK  Whitley Awards 2015  Spotlight Sumatra Wild Planet Magazine  Caters News Agency  Express 

We can all do something to help the natural world and the world we live in know matter who you are, all we have to do is care the rest then happens, many thanks.