TEMPO Interactive, Banda Aceh:It is predicted that there are now only 200 orang utan left at Rawa Tripa areas. In 1990, almost 2,000 orang utan were registered. This was stated by Conservation Director of SOCP, Dr Ian Singleton, in his press release Monday, June 18, 2012. The Rawa Tripa areas in the Nagan Raya Regency and in West Aceh have a size of 61,03 hectares. According to Ian Singleton, the decreasing number of orang utan population in the said areas is caused by the ongoing forest conversion into palm oil plantations. "To think that Tripa used to be a territory with the highest numbers of orang utan population in the world," he said. On June 16, Singleton's side saved a male orang utan baby from the people who tried to sell the baby to a member of the investigating team. "This rescue constitutes a great success of the extraordinary collaboration between police and various institutions involved," said Ian Singleton. "At present our team in the field discovered the still ongoing burning of land for plantation areas in the Leuser ecosystem," reported Ian Singleton. Aerial photos show that over the last six months more than 1,500 hectares of Raw Tripa land areas have been converted [to plantations]. An investigation team from the central government has got down to investigate these illegal activities. ADI WARSIDI