Baby orangutans rub noses in greeting at Thai wildlife center

 

 

RATCHABURI PROVINCE, Thailand (Reuters) - Two baby Sumatran orangutans rescued by border officials who foiled a bid to smuggle them into Thailand arrived at a wildlife center on Wednesday, to stay until Indonesia decides on their return, officials said.

 

Let out of their cage, the new arrivals rubbed noses with another pair of baby orangutans already resident at the center. They received a bath before exploring their new surroundings, holding onto each other all the while.

 

"Because they are still small, we have to keep these two inside a nursery enclosure as they need close attention," said Banpot Maleehuan, director of the Khao Pratab Chang Wildlife Breeding Center in central Thailand.

 

 

The two-year-old animals, one male and one female, will live at the center until a court case is completed and Indonesia decides whether to take them back, he added.

 

The primates were among a group of animals rescued in June at the Padang Besar customs checkpoint on the border with Malaysia, and a Malaysian national was arrested for attempting to smuggle them, media said.

 

Orangutans, the world's largest tree-climbing mammals, are classified as critically endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

 

 

They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, and around 60,000 are left in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates, down from around 230,000 animals a century ago.

 

Deforestation and land clearing for pulp, paper and palm oil plantations has depleted the habitat of orangutans, which means "person of the forest" in Malay. Fires are often set by companies to clear the land.

 

(Reporting by Juarawee Kittisilpa; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-9-13

I would like to see them, afaik Thailand doesn't have any orangutangs right?

Already learning to extract as much money as possible from passing punters... is that a thai trait ???

45 minutes ago, kaiyaibob said:

Already learning to extract as much money as possible from passing punters... is that a thai trait ???

I don't see anything cute in soidogs...but baby orangutangs i would like to see...

48 minutes ago, Thian said:

I don't see anything cute in soidogs...but baby orangutangs i would like to see...

We have a very large one in the White House in Washington, DC.

4 hours ago, Thian said:

I would like to see them, afaik Thailand doesn't have any orangutangs right?

They did when LOS had trees. Before your time, I'm afraid.

8 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

They did when LOS had trees. Before your time, I'm afraid.

It's sad that the mothers are often killed, so the babies can be sold as pets.

There is an orang utan orphanage in Indonesia with 300 orphans.

17 hours ago, tonray said:

We have a very large one in the White House in Washington, DC.

Please!!! Do NOT insult the orang utangs   The orange f**khead is more like a parasite...

 

Orangutan....people  of the land. Last  vestiges  of  original  humanity...now  victims  of  commercial  genocide  by the  monkeys  of  urbanity !

Actually, no, I checked, orangs have not been native to Thailand since the last ice age; Indonesia exclusively.

 

Maybe these cubs are being groomed to perform before tourist crowds at the zoo.

1 hour ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Actually, no, I checked, orangs have not been native to Thailand since the last ice age; Indonesia exclusively.

And Malaysian part of Borneo

On 9/13/2017 at 7:27 AM, tonray said:

We have a very large one in the White House in Washington, DC.

Hey, come on now, when did you ever see a soi dog with hair like his?