Wildlife group applauds next week's repatriation of orangutans

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Wildlife group applauds next week's repatriation of orangutans from

Thailand to Indonesia

The Associated Press

 

Published: September 14, 2006

BANGKOK, Thailand An announcement that Thailand will next week send

back to Indonesia more than three dozen smuggled orangutans was

welcomed Thursday by an international nonprofit group fighting the

illegal wildlife trade.

 

Some 41 apes will be sent on an Indonesian Air Force C130 to Jakarta

on Sept. 23, with seven who have tuberculosis kept in Thailand for the

time being.

 

They were confiscated from a private zoo near Bangkok several years

ago,and DNA tests proved they had come from the island of Borneo in

Indonesia.

 

Steve Galster of the group WildAid said it applauded the collaborative

action taken by Thailand and Indonesia to resolve the animals' fate,

describing it as the successful outcome of a newly-established

Association of Southeast Asian Nation wildlife enforcement network.

 

" We hope that both countries learn a lesson that through further

collaboration they can prevent future smuggling, " he said.

 

Thai officials will hold a send-off ceremony for the animals, which are

also expected to be feted on their arrival in Jakarta, said WildAid.

Indonesian veterinarians will come to Thailand on Monday to help move

the apes.

 

Galster said that since the DNA tests were able to determine that the

orangutans came from Borneo, they will be resettled in a large, open-air

relocation center there with a large population of the animals.

 

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/14/asia/AS_GEN_Thailand_Smu

ggled_Orangutans.php