THAILAND: Smuggled orangutans to return to Indonesia

Thailand will send about 48 smuggled orangutans to Indonesia this weekend after being seized two years ago at a private Bangkok zoo. The Indonesian wildlife officials and medical team visited the smuggled orangutans on Tuesday (September 19) at wildlife sanctuary in Ratchaburi province, 125 km (80 miles) west of Bangkok, to learn the habitat of the apes from local keepers and to prepare the repatriation. About 48 of smuggled orangutans were taken to the wildlife sanctuary while five were sent to a new state-funded Night Safari zoo in the northern city of Chiang Mai after a scandal erupted when activists complained the animals were being forced to entertain crowds at a Safari park by taking part in kick-boxing matches. The primates had been tested for medical check-up few months ago and the result showed 41 of orangutans are healthy but seven are infected with hepatitis B. With the unhealthy condition of the apes, Indonesian wildlife official said they were unsure whether they wanted to take all of them home this time. However, DNA tests proved 38 of orangutans from 48 samples had been taken from Indonesia and the result of other samples expected to be ready before the repatriation. The trafficked animals will be greeted on their arrival on Saturday (September 23) by the wife of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The great ape smuggling considered one of the world's largest cases. "This is a long, long effort and long, long process and, and in this case we also really appreciate the help of the Thailand government because without them our effort would be very, very, very difficult," Indonesian Forestry Ministry official Hurry Susilo said. The orangutan, being held in an animal rescue centre, will leave Bangkok on an Indonesian military transport plane on Sept. 23 "We use the military aircraft Hercules and it is also an advantage for us because we can also sit together with the orangutans, the army in the clipper, not like in the commercial aircraft that we cannot even see the orangutans. Here inside the aircraft we can always take care of them," Susilo said. The orangutans have to spend sometimes in a rehabilitation centre of Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre before returning to the wild, Susilo said. Thai authorities raided the Safari World Park in 2004 after complaints from animal activists that the zoo had made the animals perform in daily boxing matches. The zoo owners initially said their 115 orangutan were the result of a successful domestic breeding programme. Fewer than 30,000 orangutan are thought to be left in the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia and environmentalists say the species could become extinct in 20 years if the current rate of decline continues.

ITN Source | September 23, 2006

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