Orangutans to come home - AP

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Smuggled orangutans to be returned to Indonesia despite Thai coup

 

By AYESHA AKRAM, Associated Press

 

BANGKOK Thailand, September 22 (AP) -- Dozens of smuggled orangutans

being held in Thailand will be returned to Indonesia next week,

despite a coup that forced a brief delay in their transfer, officials

said Friday.

 

The 41 orangutans will be sent on an Indonesian Air Force C-130 to

Jakarta on Sept. 29, six days later than scheduled because of

Tuesday's coup that ousted the government of Thai Prime Minister

Thaksin Shinawatra, they said.

 

Indonesian officials, however, have refused to accept seven other

orangutans which were part of same group because they have been

diagnosed with hepatitis B. They will remain in Thailand for now.

 

The orangutans were confiscated in August 2004 from Bangkok's private

Safari World zoo, where they were forced to perform in daily boxing

matches. DNA tests have since proved they were from the island of

Borneo in Indonesia.

 

" Everything is in order here, " said Aldrianto Priadjati, executive

director of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, which is helping

coordinate the transfer. " The transport cages are ready. The military

plane is ready. The people are ready. "

 

After arriving in Jakarta, the orangutans are to be shipped to a

rehabilitation center in Indonesia's Kalimantan province.

 

The news was welcomed by animal activists in both countries. Many had

feared that Tuesday's coup would lead to an indefinite delay in the

transfer, which had originally been planned for Saturday.

 

" We were worried that the orangutans might become unfortunate victims

of the coup, " said Bill Schaedla, an activist with WildAid. " We feared

that the animals might have to wait while the rest of Thailand sorts

itself out. "

 

A total of 53 orangutans taken from Safari World had been kept at a

wildlife breeding center in Ratchaburi province, 95 kilometers (60

miles) west of Bangkok. The seven diagnosed with hepatitis B will

remain at the center, while five others were loaned last year to the

Chiang Mai Night Safari.

 

Activists have unsuccessfully campaigned for the five at Chiang Mai

Night Safari to also be sent to Indonesia.

 

" There is no doubt that those five orangutans belong to Indonesia, "

said Edwin Wiek of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand.

 

" But the night safari is insisting that the animals are happy in the

park and should be allowed to stay there, " Wiek said. " That's just

nonsense. The orangutans are being kept there illegally and should be

returned as soon as possible. "

 

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Michel Maas

Correspondent SE Asia for:

De Volkskrant, Netherlands

Office: Jl.Nipah VIII, no 6

Kebayoran Baru

Jakarta 12170

Phone/fax: +62 21 7266718

Mobile +62 811 890965

email: <michelmaas michelmaas