Sight hope for one-eyed shot orangutan Aan

Aan the blind orangutan has been living in captivity since she was attacked on an Indonesian plantation

A British vet is to operate on a blind orangutan in a bid to restore its sight.

Aan was shot more than 100 times with an air rifle on a plantation in Borneo in 2012, leaving her blind in one eye and severely sight-impaired in the other.

Vet Claudia Hartley said Aan, who has been in captivity since the attack, would be able to fend for herself in the wild if the surgery works.

The operation is planned for February.

After Aan was attacked, vets managed to remove most of the pellets, but 37 had lodged in her head, blinding her.

Her hearing was also affected, rendering the orangutan overly-sensitive to noise.

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After a three-hour operation Aan, aged between 10 and 12 years, was taken to live out the rest of her life at a reserve in Borneo run by charity the Orangutan Foundation.

The Orangutan Foundation released an X-ray showing the pellets lodged in Aan's head, after the attack in 2012

Blinded by the attack, Aan has to live in a cage at a reserve as she is unable to forage in the wild

"That's quite miserable for an animal as intelligent as an orangutan," Ms Hartley, a veterinarian ophthalmologist from Cambridge, said.

"It's akin to a human being in a prison cell, and that's her life 24/7. It's the best the charity can offer her because it keeps her safe, it keeps her fed."

'Get through to the brain'

After examining the orangutan in September, Ms Hartley said there was a "good chance" of restoring sufficient sight in Aan's right eye to enable her to return to the wild.

Vet Claudia Hartley examined the orangutan at the nature reserve in Borneo earlier this year

"Even though she will only be one-eyed, she will be able to be released because primates can still forage one-eyed," she said.

The procedure, similar to a cataract operation on a human, is planned for early next year.

Its success or otherwise will be known "pretty much straight away," Ms Hartley added.

"I'm fairly certain I can make the eyeball see, but it's whether that will get through to the brain is the crux of it."

Ashley Leiman, director of the foundation, said being able to release Aan would be "absolutely amazing".

"As a blind orangutan, she was going to spend the rest of her life in a cage," she said.