Endangered baby surili reunited with mother after rescue from fire-hit Mount Ciremai

KUCHING: At first, Darsa thought the sound cutting through the darkness on Mount Ciremai was a bird.

It was close to 11 pm on Thursday (Oct 22), and the 51-year-old farmer, better known as Dodo, was helping fight a forest fire at Puncak Dulang when he heard the faint cries again.

He followed the sound with a torch.

What he found was a baby surili clinging to a branch above ground already scorched by fire.

Dodo, a member of the Padabeunghar Fire Care Community (MPA), said the tree had been burned and much of the surrounding vegetation was already gone.

“We were putting out the fire when I heard a strange sound. I thought it was a bird.

“When we checked with a torch, it turned out to be a baby surili. The tree had already burned and the surrounding area was scorched,” he said in an interview with Detik.com

The infant was weak when found.

Its umbilical cord was still attached, leading Dodo to estimate that it was only about a week old.

He believed the mother may have fled as the fire spread through the area, leaving the infant behind on a branch about five metres above the ground.

Reaching it was another challenge.

Dry trees around the site were still burning and some had to be cut down before the fire could be brought under control and the animal safely retrieved.

“When we found it, it was still clinging to the branch and was weak,” Dodo said.

“It may have gone without milk for some time and had difficulty breathing because of the smoke.”

The baby was kept safe through the night.

By morning, rescuers brought it back to the forest and watched from a distance, hoping its calls would draw the mother back.

They did.

In separate conversation, Dodo later recounted the rescue with West Java Regional Secretary Herman Suryatman, who shared the exchange in a video.

“Alhamdulillah, it is back with its mother,” Dodo told him.

The rescue unfolded as firefighting teams continued working around Puncak Dulang, about 1,600 metres above sea level, where flames had already damaged parts of the forest.

Herman said the incident was a reminder of what was at stake on Mount Ciremai, describing the mountain as a “tower of life” that supports water resources, forest ecosystems and protected wildlife.

Among the animals living there is the surili, a protected primate endemic to Java.

The fire had already taken its toll on the forest that night.

But for one newborn clinging to a burned tree, the ending was different.

By the following morning, it was back with its mother.