Thailand to send 48 orangutan home to Indonesia
Thailand will send 48 endangered orangutans home to Indonesia this week, two months after their return was delayed by a military coup, a Thai forestry official said Monday.
The primates had been smuggled into Thailand and were seized at a Bangkok zoo two years ago.
They would finally be sent home Wednesday, flying on a military aircraft to Jakarta airport, said Wattana Vetayaprasit, director of Thailand`s wildlife conservation division.
“The apes` return home has been delayed for some time because of the coup (on September 19), medical check-ups, as well as the process of obtaining import and export licences for endangered species,” Wattana told AFP.
Following their seizure from the Bangkok zoo, an investigation was carried out to determine whether they were from Malaysia or Indonesia.
“Indonesia will take all 48 apes while they continue to undergo DNA tests to clearly identify their origins. Any of them proven to have originated in Malaysia will be sent there later,” said Wattana.
After arriving in Indonesia, the orangutans would be kept at a rehabilitation center, before going to a zoo, he added.
The orangutans were supposed to leave for Indonesia in September, but their departure was delayed by the military coup when operations at the air base in Bangkok were suspended.
Orangutans, the only great ape to be found outside of Africa, are native to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia and to Borneo.
Experts say only about 27,000 remain in the wild and populations are fast declining due to deforestation and trafficking, AFP reported.(*)
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