Video: Orphaned baby orangutan Udin cared for by rescuers after losing will to live

Udin's mother was likely killed by poachers

Udin was sold to a farmer (International Animal Rescue)

Animal conservationists are fighting to save a baby orangutan who has lost the will to live after he was orphaned.

Newborn orangutan Udin has "tried to die several times" after his mother was killed, according to rescuers. Poachers likely shot or stabbed Udin’s mother as she tried to protect him, rescuers believe, before they sold him as a pet to a farmer.

He was then locked alone inside a small cage, according to the International Animal Rescue team.

Udin arrived at the IAR Orangutan Centre in Borneo suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydraton. Workers become increasingly concerned about the young animal’s wellbeing after he would not eat or drink, and showed no interest in his new surroundings.

Vets caring for Udin continue to stay with him round the clock, and sleep on the floor beside him so they can comfort him like his mother would have.

“[Udin] tried to die several times, but we wouldn’t let him and just kept interacting with him and doing lots of physiotherapy and exercises so he could not ignore us and had to learn to trust us as his sole link to survival,” the vets said in a statement.

After around ten days, Udin started to respond and show an interest in food.

“Finally there was a glimmer of light in his sad dark eyes,” the vets said.

Udin is now in a stable condition, but requires constant care and intensive medical treatment.

Alan Knight, IAR Chief Executive, said: “The vets are doing everything they can to give Udin the best chance of survival.

“He clings constantly to a large fluffy teddy bear, just as he would have clung to his mother in the wild.”

Knight added that Udin is one of 86 orphaned orangutans in the centre in Bornea, but that his case is particularly poignant as he “had suffered so much that he had completely given up on life.”

“Udin still faces a long road ahead but at least now we all dare hope that eventually he will recover,” he added.

Like newborn humans, baby orangutans are extremely vulnerable to sickness and disease, particularly when they have suffered a very poor start in life.

Logging of orangutan habitats in Borneo and Sumatra means the creatures are in danger of extinction, meaning there are now less than 60,000 in the wild.