Have you ever thought about how orangutans and morality are linked?

The population of orangutans in Borneo, Indonesia, has lost more than 100,000 individuals in the last 16 years due to poaching, exploitation of their habitat and illegal traffic of their young to be used as pets. This reflects how limited is the moral circle of society, where it seems that orangutans are excluded and are not worthy of any moral consideration on our part.

Source: La Vanguardia

Faced with events like this, I do not know where our ability to bond with others and care about them (one of the pillars of morality) remains. We should expand the horizons of our moral circle and thus be able to prevent the extinction of this species. Do we want to remain responsible (at least morally) for more deaths? Our moral circle is so delimited and closed that we do not give importance to other species, such as orangutans, and this is clearly reflected in the course of our behavior. Here is portrayed not only the moral of those people who exploit their habitat, but also those who buy products that contain ingredients that come from there, as is the case of so‐called palm oil.

We must act urgently to prevent its extinction and it only depends on us, whether or not we decide to expand our moral circle and include the orangutans in it.

You can find more information on National Geographic's webpage.