Endangered Borneo orangutan and her baby nearly stoned to death by angry villagers

An endangered Borneo orangutan and her tiny baby were tied up and nearly stoned to death by angry villagers.

The malnourished mother and baby had fled raging forest fires in Indonesia.

But when they sought refuge in a nearby village they were viciously attacked by "frightened" locals, who hurled rocks and tied them up.

Rescue workers found the apes - who were distressed and clinging to one another - "just in time".

Footage released by charity International Animal Rescue (IAR) shows the moment the mother and her baby were released into a conservation area after their rescue.

The mother, named Mama Anti, was "extremely thin" having not eaten in at least a month but she still had enough milk to nourish her baby.

Rescuers treated her for minor wounds and removed the rope that had been tied to her wrists.

"It was very fortunate our rescue team got there in time, otherwise the orangutans would have been killed," Karmele Llano Sanchez, the charity's program director, told AFP.

"The mother was quite skinny because she had not been eating for at least a month since the fires started."

Apes who have fled their habitats because of the fires have increasingly arrived in villages looking for food and shelter.

But many locals see them as pests and conflict between humans and the apes have increased.