‘Humans are just terrible’: Viewers are left in tears by upsetting scenes of Borneo’s rainforest destruction on David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds One Planet
- Filmed compared the rainforest when he first visited in 1956 to what is left today
- Much has been logged, causing Borneo’s orangutan population to almost halve
- One viewer wrote: ‘It’s unreal how much damage humans are doing to the planet’
BBC viewers were left in tears last night after watching upsetting scenes showing the destruction of Borneo’s rainforest during David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds One Planet.
The film compared the dense, luscious rainforest the broadcaster saw during his first trip to the country in 1956 with today’s equivalent, swathes of which has been left barren and desolate after being cleared for palm oil plantations.
The resulting collapse in the country’s orangutan population, from 175,000 in the 1950s to around half that today, hit home especially hard with viewers, one of whom tweeted, ‘Humans are just terrible’.
One clip showed a forest in Borneo that had been hit by an apocalypse – a grey, desolate, wasteland – with a solitary adult orangutan running along the trunk of a fallen tree, pursued by two men brandishing some kind of weapon. The ape eventually fell off the tree
The resulting collapse in the country’s orangutan population, from 175,000 in the 1950s to around half that today, hit home especially hard with viewers, who responded on Twitter
One viewer wrote: ‘It must be so hard for David Attenborough to return to Borneo so many times over the years and seeing it being destroyed like this #SevenWorldsOnePlanet.’
Another, Mark Anthony Kelly, tweeted: ‘After you watch a programme narrated by Sir David Attenborough makes you realise there are more important things to sort out on this planet that we as humans are destroying.’
And Mark Lipman added: ‘Just watched Asia’s Episode of #SevenWorldsOnePlanet – phenomenal photography and videography work! It’s incredible and heartbreaking.
‘We have been warned, unreal how much damage us humans do to this planet. We have so much work to do. Another #Attenborough masterclass!’
The documentary showed a forest in Borneo that had been hit by an apocalypse – a grey, desolate, wasteland – with a solitary adult orangutan running along the trunk of a fallen tree, pursued by two men brandishing some kind of weapon.
With the tree virtually the last one left in the scene of devastation, the orangutan had nowhere to hide and, literally, nowhere to run. Particularly when a bulldozer clattered over, its grotesque orange jaws blocking the ape’s path, forcing it to fall off the tree trunk into the undergrowth.
Viewers praised the documentary and said it had helped to highlight and important – and urgent – issue
Visibly exhausted and desperate, it staggered on for a few steps before the men caught up with it.
It later transpired they were members of ‘International Animal Rescue’, attempting to dart and sedate the orangutan, but the footage still resonated with viewers for depicting the scale of the destruction that has hit Borneo.
A viewer tweeted: ‘Was really upset at the (2018) video David Attenborough showed last night of the poor #orangutan fleeing man in #Indonesia horrible what we’re doing to the world and the habit of animals. Horrible.’
Others were also upset by the scenes, including one who wrote: ‘Eating dinner with the family watching Attenborough on Borneo when I start sobbing into my stew. Crikey.’
One clip showed a forest in Borneo that had been hit by an apocalypse – a grey, desolate, wasteland – with a solitary adult orangutan running along the trunk of a fallen tree, pursued by two men brandishing some kind of weapon
The bulldozer’s jaws blocked the ape’s path, so it had no choice but to fall off the trunk into the undergrowth
Another Attenborough fan said: ‘Just watched the second of David Attenborough’s new series – amazing and terribly depressing – our children will experience a world deprived of half its variety and wonder, and our grandchildren the same again.’
And Beth Bradbury added: ‘I really love that David Attenborough’s new series strikes the balance between showcasing natural beauty and also pushing the vital message that conservation is important – only humans can reverse the damage we’ve done and only if everyone does their part #ActOnClimate.’
Footage from Attenborough’s original documentary in 1956 showed the 93-year-old going up river in a canoe like an explorer in a sketch from The Fast Show.
Over the 60 years he had returned many times, first noting the start of the decline in a clip from 2012.
But he had never envisaged the scale of the devastation today.
‘Now only patches of forests remain,’ he stated fatefully.’
It transpired the men were members of ‘International Animal Rescue’, attempting to dart and sedate the orangutan, then move it to somewhere safer
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