Indonesia is working to bring back five baby orangutans found in a forest in Odisha, as authorities investigate a suspected international wildlife trafficking network that may have brought the animals thousands of kilometres from their natural habitat.The five orangutans were found by forest department officials patrolling the Jaleswar range in Balasore district on September 8. They are believed to be between one and 1.5 years old and have since been moved to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, where they are being kept in quarantine.Indonesia’s ministry of forestry said preliminary observations suggested the animals could be Sumatran orangutans, but stressed that their species and genetic origins would be confirmed through DNA testing.“Based on preliminary observations of their physical characteristics, the five animals are suspected to be Sumatran orangutans,” the ministry’s head of public relations and foreign cooperation, Ristianto Pribadi, said in statement quoted by Antara news agency.The ministry said it was coordinating with Indian authorities, including India’s CITES Management Authority, as well as diplomatic missions in Jakarta and New Delhi, Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency and its agriculture ministry to expedite the animals’ return.The presence of the orangutans in India has raised suspicions of transnational wildlife trafficking because the apes are native only to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Odisha’s environment minister Ram Singh Khuntia had earlier said investigators suspected an international racket could be involved.International commercial trade in orangutans is prohibited under CITES, the global agreement regulating trade in endangered wildlife.Indonesian conservation groups including the Leuser Ecosystem Foundation, Indonesian Wildlife Network, Center for Orangutan Protection and Indonesian Orangutan Forum have also offered to assist with the repatriation.Once returned to Indonesia, the orangutans are expected to undergo health checks, quarantine and behavioural assessments. If they are found fit, they could enter a rehabilitation programme aimed at eventually returning them to the wild.
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The case comes as orangutan populations face mounting pressure from habitat loss and other threats. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that about 104,000 orangutans remain in Borneo and Sumatra, down from more than 230,000 a century ago.A third species, the Tapanuli orangutan, is classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 800 believed to survive in the wild. Its entire known population lives in the Batang Toru forest in North Sumatra, an ecosystem threatened by mining, palm oil plantations and a large hydropower project.The discovery of the five infants has now prompted authorities in India and Indonesia to investigate how the animals entered India and whether they were victims of a wider international trafficking operation.
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