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An animal rights group on W ednesday held a protest against the construction of a road in Tebo district, Jambi, by an Asia Pulp & Paper subsidiary through what it said was the de facto habitat of more than 100 orangutans which had been released into the wild.

The Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) said its two-month inspection of the are a had revealed that the road passed near the orangutan conservation area in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park.

The group said the road put the orangutans at great risk.

“The road is only five to seven kilometers from the center of the orangutan release site,” said COP campaigner Sadewa, adding that orangutans roam territories at least that big.

“We demand that [the firm] stop this operation,” he said.

Two subsidiaries of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), PT Wira Karya Sejati and PT Rimba Hutani Mas, are building the road, which would be used to transport forest products, the COP said.

The group’s investigation was conducted as a follow-up to work done by five nongovernmental organizations in Riau and Jambi that led to allegations that APP subsidiaries had threatened the existence of not only orangutans but also tigers and elephants.

On Wednesday morning, COP members spread a protest banner at one of the crossing bridges on Jalan Thamrin. An orangutan doll was laid in the street in front of BII Plaza, near the bridge.

Responding to the protest, APP corporate parent Sinar Mas released a statement saying the road was built according to the specifications of the local and central governments, and had been built with many environmental considerations in mind.

Sinar Mas said its companies also coordinated with the management of the national park.

In any case, it said, much of the road in question had actually been built by companies with logging concessions.

The general manager of the conservation program at PT Sinar Mas Forestry, Haris Surono, said the company had requested a dialogue with COP, but the group had refused, choosing instead to hold demonstrations.