(Thailand) Fate of 54 orangutans

[Guest guest]

Tuesday April 11, 2006

The Star

Malaysians, Thais and Indons to decide fate of 54 orangutans

 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The fate of 54 orangutans illegally smuggled

into Thailand nearly two years ago will be decided at a meeting of

Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian wildlife officials later this month in

Bangkok, officials say.

 

The move comes amid a campaign by international non-governmental

organizations calling for sanctions against Thailand, Malaysia,

Cambodia and Saudi Arabia, which they accuse of failing to return more

than 100 illegally smuggled orangutans.

 

The two-day talks beginning April 21 in the Thai capital Bangkok are

expected to produce an agreement that will pave the way for the

primates to be returned to either Indonesia or Malaysia, once tests

have determined their country of origin, Schwann Tunhikorn, deputy

director of Thailand's National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation

Department, told The Associated Press.

 

" We are doing all we can. We don't want to get stuck with these

orangutans,'' Schwann said.

 

" We want to send them back but we want to do it the right way ... That

is why we need to discuss how best to determine which population these

54 orangutans come from.''

 

Thai authorities in 2004 confiscated more than 100 orangutans from the

private Safari World zoo near Bangkok, where they were forced to

perform in daily boxing matches.

 

A court ruled earlier this year that 54 of the orangutans were

illegally smuggled into the country.

 

The remainder have since been returned to the zoo, after the owners

proved they were purchased before Thailand amended its law in 1992 to

make smuggling illegal.

 

CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of

Flora and Fauna, lists orangutans as endangered, meaning trade in the

animals is tightly restricted.

 

Orangutans are native to Indonesia and parts of Borneo island, but not

Thailand, where questions have been raised about the origins of those

held in private zoos.

 

Some are believed to have been smuggled to Thailand, though others

have been bred from legally imported animals.

 

In March, 40 conservation groups called on CITES Secretary-General

Willem Wijnstekers to implement sanctions against the four countries

" who are blatantly disregarding the spirit, if not the rules, of the

Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species.''

 

The groups singled out Thailand for delaying the return of the 54

orangutans, while accusing Cambodia of refusing to confiscate 22

others that are reportedly being forced to entertain tourists by

cycling, boxing and skateboarding in daily shows.

 

They also said Malaysia has failed to return an orangutan to Indonesia

while one had disappeared after being confiscated in Saudi Arabia.

 

" The smuggling of highly endangered orangutans is an appalling

activity,'' Sean Whyte, coordinator of the Born To Be Wild Campaign,

said in a statement.

 

" Any country which condones this trade deserves to have sanctions

brought against it by CITES.''

 

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