Thailand Returns Orang-utangs To Indonesia

Thailand returns orang-utangs to Indonesia

RATCHABURI: -- Thai authorities will return 48 orang-utangs seized at a privately-run zoo in Bangkok last year to Indonesia this week, a senior official said Sunday.

Pornchai Prathumrattanathan, chief of the Khao Pra Tab Chang Animal Research and Husbandry Center in Ratchaburi province, some 100 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, said Thai veterinarians and Indonesian officials agreed that the orang-utangs are now in good health and able to be flown back to their natural habitats in Indonesia.

The actual transfer will take place before dawn on Wednesday, when the animals will leave Ratchaburi.

A protected species under the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the orang-utangs were discovered at Safari World Park in Minburi, in suburban Bangkok and impounded by officials last year. DNA tests showed that that they had originated from Indonesia. Under the terms of CITES, the primates must be sent back to their place of origin.

After the seizure, the endangered animals were sent to Ratchaburi for rehabilitation. Seven were found to be infected with hepatitis B virus, but after treatment they are now in good health.

Indonesian officials have sent 35 cages, some able to contain two animals in each cage, to the Thai authorities who said they are awaiting seven more cages as putting two orang-utangs in one cage could make the animals feel uncomfortable because the journey takes some hours.

--TNA 2006-11-19