(MY) seven orang utans to be sent home

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Friday December 16, 2005 - The Star

 

Seven orang utans to be sent home

 

BY HILARY CHIEW

 

PETALING JAYA: Seven Sumatran orang utans smuggled into the country

will be repatriated tomorrow, marking the first regional cooperation

in combating illegal trade in wildlife.

 

Six of the orang utans were confined and used as show animals by a

theme park for at least four years and the other held by the Johor Zoo

for an unknown period.

 

The repatriation comes close on the heels of the Asean Wildlife

Enforcement Network – a regional wildlife Interpol – adopted by Asean

members in Bangkok last month.

 

The decision to return the apes to Indonesia was a result of a

peninsula-wide DNA finger-printing exercise conducted by the

Department of Wildlife and National Park since May after the

possession of the animals was exposed by a member of the public.

 

It was later confirmed that seven out of 58 orang utans tested were of

the Sumatran (Pongo abelii) species endemic to the island.

 

Sumatran Orang Utan Conservation Programme (SOCP) director Dr Ian

Singleton, who has been here since Tuesday overseeing the repatriation

process, praised the Malaysian authorities'.

 

" It is a great stride in the right direction taken by Malaysia, which

other Asean nations can learn from. The fact that Malaysia

acknowledged the illegality of the collection and made the decision to

return the apes is sending out a strong message that such acts will

not be tolerated, " he told The Star yesterday.

 

He pointed out that Indonesia was still battling with Thailand over

more than 100 orang utans, mostly juveniles, held in several theme

parks for the last two years.

 

Although DNA tests have been conducted, there is still no sign that

the animals will be repatriated to their home country.

 

The seven apes will be flown to Jakarta in a MAS passenger aircraft

and transferred onto a Garuda flight to Medan on the same day.

 

Singleton said, upon arrival in Medan, the animals would undergo a

three-month rehabilitation programme.

 

Following that they would be reintroduced to the wild at the Bukit

Tigapuluh National Park in central Sumatra where they will join 53

orang utans that were rescued from illegal trade and released there

since the reintroduction programme was started in 2003.