Bhubaneswar: Will the five orangutans rescued from a forest in Odisha’s Baleshwar district be repatriated to Indonesia?
The question is doing the rounds after an orangutan rescued in India as a baby in 2024 was sent back to Indonesia on Monday, following nearly two years of care by Indian wildlife authorities and coordination between the two countries’ wildlife protection agencies.
The repatriated orangutan, Rocky, was rescued from an apartment in Thane’s Dombivli by Maharashtra Forest officials following a tip off. The endangered animal was then transferred to a zoo in Maharashtra, and later to Vantara in Gujarat.
As a gesture of goodwill, the Indian government has waived all costs associated with the orangutan’s care and maintenance before its return to Indonesia.
This is the first such successful repatriation with the process being coordinated by the authorities of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in both countries.
Authorities are now learnt to be also working to arrange the return of the five young orangutans rescued in Odisha. Their repatriation will depend on confirmation of their species and origin, as well as completion of procedure and regulatory clearances.
The development comes on the heels of Indian authorities reportedly agreeing in principle to the Indonesian government’s proposal for an official delegation from that country to visit Odisha to assess the health and welfare of the rescued orangutans.
The Indonesian team is likely to visit Odisha in November.
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The five orangutans, including three males and two females, are recuperating at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar at present. Zoo officials said the animals are being hand-reared and kept under continuous watch.
Earlier in September, the orangutans were found near Badapali village in Baleshwar Forest division. Since the animals are native only to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, their discovery raised suspicions of wildlife trafficking networks in the area.
Following their recovery, Indonesia had sought the repatriation of the five orangutans, saying it was willing to coordinate with Indian authorities if investigations established that the animals originated from Indonesia.