BHUBANESWAR: In a casuarina forest in Balasore, an unlikely sight has left wildlife officials baffled.Five baby orangutans, native to Southeast Asia, were spotted swinging from branches in the dense forest.Their sudden appearance in Odisha has left wildlife officials grappling with a mystery: how did these apes end up hundreds of miles from their natural habitat?The unusual discovery has now triggered a probe into whether the animals were brought to Odisha as part of an international wildlife smuggling network.A day after the five young orangutans were rescued from the forest, the Odisha Police’s Special Task Force (STF) and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) launched a joint investigation on Wednesday to find out how the animals reached Balasore, who brought them there and whether an international wildlife trafficking network was involved.State forest and environment minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia said the probe would examine how the orangutans reached Balasore, who brought them to the forest and who was involved in the activity, news agency PTI reported.Officials rescued the five animals from a casuarina forest in the Bichitrapur area of Bhograi block and took them to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, where they are being kept in quarantine.
Why the orangutans’ presence has baffled officials
Orangutans are not found in India and are native to rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia, including the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia.Given their high value, they can fetch Rs 20-25 lakh in international markets; the animals are suspected to have been smuggled from foreign forests, the minister said.Officials suspect the critically endangered apes may have been abandoned by traffickers fearing arrest, PTI reported.The animals were spotted by locals dangling from tree branches in the forest area, around 40km from the Balasore-Kolkata stretch of NH-16.
Black SUV captured on CCTV
Villagers first spotted the young apes clinging to trees on Tuesday morning and alerted the forest department, Balasore divisional forest officer Prateek Prakash Indalkar said.Local residents reported seeing a black SUV on a road near the forest on Monday night. The vehicle was also captured on CCTV, PTI reported.“Therefore, locating the SUV and its owner could give some clue to the arrival of the baby orangutans in Balasore,” a local police officer said.Indalkar said the animals could have been transported in a vehicle travelling from Kolkata to Balasore. Officials are also examining whether they may have entered India through Kolkata after being brought from Malaysia by ship.
STF, WCCB trace animals’ possible route
Odisha STF inspector general Himansu Lal said a team led by an SP-rank officer had already left for Balasore to investigate the matter.“We are at the preliminary stage of investigation and presently collecting data and facts available locally. We are in contact with the central government’s IG, wildlife, and seeking to know whether a similar incident had ever happened in any part of the country,” STF DIG Vishal Singh said.The STF team contacted the Balasore district SP and DFO and collected details about the rescue. Meanwhile, forest officials and local police went door to door in nearby areas to gather information.The forest department has also contacted zoos across the country to find out whether any orangutan was reported missing from their facilities, the minister said.CCTV footage from airports, ports and major railway stations is being examined.The Coast Guard has also been contacted to check whether its personnel had encountered any transportation of the animals through water routes, he said.
Five baby orangutans now in quarantine
“A team of veterinary doctors are monitoring the health of the animals, and they are stable. I will visit them today. These rare animals are kept in an air-conditioned atmosphere,” the minister said.Officials at Nandankanan Zoological Park said three of the five animals were males and two were females. They are aged between six months and one year and stand roughly one to one-and-a-half feet tall.All five are currently being provided food and oral rehydration solutions, officials said.Nandankanan has a special enclosure for orangutans, but it has remained empty since one such animal died in 2019 at the age of 41, PTI reported.A female orangutan was brought to Nandankanan from Pune Zoo in 2003.The minister said the state government has urged the Central Zoo Authority to allow the five baby orangutans to remain at Nandankanan Zoological Park.(With agency inputs)
