Thailand to return smuggled orangutans

[Guest guest]

Thailand to return smuggled orangutans to Indonesia next month

Jakarta Post

August 30, 2006

 

BANGKOK (AP): Thailand next month will repatriate dozens of smuggled

Indonesian orangutans which were confiscated from a safari park two years

ago, authorities said Wednesday.

 

But questions remain over the future of five of the smuggled orangutans that

have been " loaned " to the Chiang Mai Night Safari -- a pet project of Thai

Prime Minister Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

 

The 53 orangutans were among 100 orangutans confiscated in August 2004 from

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

in daily boxing matches. Of those seized, 54 were found to be illegally

smuggled and one has died.

 

" We want to send them all back, " said Damrong Phidej, director-general of

Agriculture Ministry's National Parks Department. " We don't want to take

care of them. "

 

Thai and Indonesian officials said they expected the 48 to be returned on a

flight in mid-September. The orangutans will be shipped to a rehabilitation

center on Indonesia's island of Kalimantan (Borneo).

 

" For the time being, we are talking only about 48, not including the ones in

Chiang Mai, " said Wisnu Pratignyo, political counselor at the Indonesia

Embassy in Bangkok. " The ministry officials mentioned 48. That's why we're

now discussing only 48. "

 

The 53 orangutans were being kept at a wildlife breeding center in

Ratchaburi province, 95 kilometers west of Bangkok.

 

Five of those orangutans were loaned to the Chiang Mai Night Safari last

year, a national parks official said on condition of anonymity because he

was not authorized to speak to the media.

 

Damrong insisted they were loaned to the park because there was not enough

space at Ratchaburi, adding they too would eventually be returned to

Indonesia.

 

" Night Safari has veterinarians and everything to take care of them, so we

lent them temporarily, " Damrong said. " There was one condition that if

Indonesia wanted us to send them back, we would have to send them all back. "

 

The Chiang Mai Night Safari, a project initiated by Thaksin in his hometown

in northern Thailand, has been a subject of extensive controversy for

attempting to import animals from Kenya and export animals to other

countries. It also at one time floated a proposal to offer exotic animal

meats on its menu for visitors.

 

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.

 

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060830130037 & irec=3