Both the endangered Bornean orangutan and the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan are in need of urgent help. Their habitats are being destroyed.
For International Orangutan Day, the Orangutan Foundation posted a poem by one of their youngest supporters.
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To read this moving poem, “The Orangutan’s Plight,” by Valentino Rodrigues, click:
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The Orangutan’s Plight
by Valentino Rodrigues, aged 10
From high in the treetops that are my home
I’m lost and afraid
I feel so alone
Our forest was huge once covering miles
It was full of life
And my mother’s smiles
They are moving in closer the men with the fire
Clearing my home
With their greed and desire
These men killed my mother, it broke my heart
I’m scared as I watch them
Pull my home apart
So many of my kind have been killed in this way
We cannot stop them
We have no say
Someone please help us, we really need you
Stop destroying us and our forest
For your cheaper food
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Visuals
- Borneo rainforest
- Baby Orangutan
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Gene Howington
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Gives me chills…
I think it is a good poem for anyone to have written, but an extraordinary poem for a 10-year-old to compose.
Yes, amazing that a child could be so perceptive and empathetic to put themself in the place of the animal!