There are many threats to the survival of Orangutans and they are very difficult to prevent. These threats include:
Loss of habitat (from people and forest fires)
Illegal hunting (for fur and sometimes meat)
Pet trade (people are greedy and capture Orangutans as pets)

Once, long ago, Orangutans lived abundantly in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, on many Indonesian islands. Today they only survive on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, in beautiful, lush rainforest. The habitat they live in is also occupied by many other endangered species, including tigers and rhinos, and is crossed by large rivers. In fact, their forests contain the greatest number of species of trees, birds and animals per acre in the whole world. There are still many species of plants and animals left to be discovered there. Nowadays, even the habitat on Borneo and Sumatra is threatened. The population of Indonesia has grown form 10, 000, 000 people at the beginning of the century, to over 200, 000, 000 people. That is an increase of more than 20 times. So they need 20 times more space to live in, and with the urgency of people�s needs, they don�t think about what they could be doing to animals before cutting down their homes. People and Orangutans need to live in the same area. That is the crisis.

Deforestation

This includes:
Illegal logging (cutting down trees)
�Slash and Burn� methods to clear space for palm oil plantations.
�Slash and Burn� Methods used by the local farmers for space to grow crops.
The program used by the government to move the population of Java to the rainforests of Borneo.
�Slash and Burn� methods igniting natural forest and bush fires.
�Slash and Burn� methods igniting old natural peat and coal deposits hidden in the ground and escalating the fires.

Deforestation is one of the most devastating threats to Orangutans. A great number of Orangutans have perished because of deforestation, and more die from it every day. Slash and Burn is a method of deforestation developed in Finland in the 20th Century and was not used until Indonesians were taught how. As the name suggests, it involves, cutting down the forest and burning it. Slash and Burn never used to be a problem, but as the population of Indonesia increased, more people wanted to live on Borneo and Sumatra, and had to destroy the forest to have their land. So the number of people using slash and burn increased, and so did deforestation, until today where it happens daily.

Illegal Pet Trade

Even though trading baby Orangutans is illegal, the business still thrives to this day. Hundreds of Orangutans are being taken from their homes in the wild, to be traded to greedy humans. The process for stealing Orangutans is simple: kill the mother, take the baby. It has been estimated that 4 or 5 baby Orangutans die every time 1 baby Orangutan is stolen. They can die from:
Great falls from trees when their mother is shot.
Trauma from their mothers death.
Human diseases (Orangutans can catch any human disease that exists).
The poor conditions they are kept on after their capture.
Baby Orangutans may be very cute, but they are very bad pets. They start their life cute, cuddly, and funny, but like most wild animals, they grow up to be dangerous, unmanageable, and very strong adults, resulting in the owner�s harm or the Orangutan�s (from being shot after causing havoc). Some baby Orangutans aren�t fed properly, and die before they even reach adulthood.

Poaching