Fourteen orangutans smuggled into Thailand illegally were sent back to Indonesia today, but the operation was not without a bit of drama — one of the powerful apes tore a wildlife officer’s finger off when he tried to put them in cages.
Twelve of the orangutans were smuggled into Thailand seven years ago as babies. They were rescued by police and sent to a wildlife breeding center in Ratchaburi, 80 kilometers west of Bangkok. Two of the great apes were born at the center.
“The animals were still babies when we got them and they should have been sent back right away,” Edwin Wiek, director of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, said. “Now it’s too late for them to go back to the wild.”
Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said the orangutans originated from the Indonesian part of Borneo.
The illegal trade in endangered orangutans sees the great apes poached from Indonesian forests for food, to obtain infants for the domestic and international pet trade, or for traditional medicine. Between 2006 and 2007, Thailand returned 52 smuggled orangutans to Indonesia.
The latest apes to be sent back to Indonesia were sent to Bangkok’s international Don Mueang airport on Wednesday and put in cages ahead of their five hour journey to Jakarta, a department statement said.
One tore an officer’s finger off when he tried to put them in cages, the department said. Around five years of age, an orangutan has the strength of an adult male human, and by maturity will be as strong as five to seven adult male humans.
The orangutans will spend 60 days in quarantine at a Jakarta safari park and will be moved to a rescue center in Borneo, home to 2,000 orangutans.
Story: Reuters
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