BHUBANESWAR: They were merrily swinging from branches in a dense casuarina forest, but the five baby orangutans had no business being there.Their bizarre appearance in Odisha’s Balasore forest on Tuesday has left wildlife officials baffled and triggered a probe into suspected international wildlife trafficking. Authorities suspect the critically endangered apes may have been abandoned by traffickers fearing arrest.The five orangutans — two females and three males — were spotted by locals dangling from tree branches in the Bhogarai forest area, around 40km from the Balasore-Kolkata stretch of NH-16. Since orangutans are neither native to India nor found in the wild in the country, officials suspect they may have reached Odisha through an international trafficking network.The animals are suspected to have been abandoned near Badipada in Chandaneswar by traffickers fearing arrest. A special task force (STF) of the crime branch has launched a probe, while a team from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) is heading to Balasore.IG (STF) Himanshu Kumar Lal said, “We have sent our personnel to Balasore to start the probe.”Forest minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia said the WCCB would conduct a detailed investigation to identify the animals’ origin and uncover how they reached Odisha.Locals who first spotted the unusual animals alerted forest officials, believing that a rare species of monkeys had strayed into the area.“When our field personnel visited the site, to their surprise, the five were orangutans, including two females and three males. As a crowd started gathering near the forest, we decided to bring a cage and safely secure the animals without using tranquillisers. The orangutans were extremely calm and meek. They could be handled by hand and placed inside the cage without any difficulty,” said Balasore divisional forest officer Prateek Indalkar.Indalkar said the animals could have been transported in a vehicle travelling from Kolkata to Balasore.“We suspect they may have come from Malaysia to Kolkata by ship. The WCCB has the expertise to determine the exact species and identify the country of origin,” he added.Chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha said orangutans have been trafficked and illegally kept as exotic pets by wealthy individuals in several countries.
