(MY) orang utan free again

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Tuesday January 3, 2006 - The Star

 

To roam free again

 

By HILARY CHIEW

 

One of six seized from a theme park in Malaysia, this orang utan is

now in quarantine at a centre in Sumatra. It will undergo

rehabilitation and then released into the wild.

 

THIRTY hours after they were packed into individual transportation

crates, six orang utans touched down in Sumatra – the place where they

were born between seven and 11 years ago.

 

The consignment arrived in two flights from Jakarta late on the

evening of Dec 17, after a 12-hour delay there upon arrival from the

KL International Airport.

 

Forming what is likely to be the first batch of repatriation, the six

were loaded onto two four-wheel-drive vehicles for the final leg of

the repatriation process to the quarantine centre at Bukit Mbelin,

45km from Medan in North Sumatra.

 

Rescued from a life in animal shows and repatriated in accordance to

an international agreement, the six Asian apes are at the centre of an

illegal wildlife trade scandal involving a theme park in Malaysia.

 

The uncovering of the possession of the Sumatran orang utans by the

commercial park sparked a DNA finger-printing exercise which revealed

that 12 out of 58 orang utans held by seven facilities were Sumatrans.

However, only seven were deemed to have contravened the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), indicating that

they were likely to have been smuggled.

 

Six were confined by the theme park and used as show animals for at

least four years while one was kept by the Johor Zoo for an unknown

period. However, the orang utan in Johor did not make the trip pending

clearance from the relevant authorities.

 

Apart from the Sumatran orang utans, conservationists have also called

for the origins of the 46 Bornean orang utans to be investigated and

dealt with according to Cites rules. Under Cites, animals that were

smuggled must be repatriated as a commitment by member countries to

assist each other in protecting their flora and fauna species against

poaching.

 

Together with three other great ape species – the gorilla, chimpanzee

and bonobo – the orang utan is listed on Appendix I of Cites which ban

all trade due to its endangered status. The Sumatran orang utan (Pongo

abelii) faces extinction as there are only 7,500 left in fragmented

forest patches on the island.

 

Indonesia welcomed the positive action that the Malaysian authorities,

particularly the Department of Wildlife and National Park

(Perhilitan), have taken in repatriating the primates.

 

Legality issues

 

" It is not an easy issue to handle as it involved illegality. We don't

want to discuss whose fault it is as we've our own difficulties in

controlling the problem. Geographically, it is a nightmare to prevent

smuggling as there are so many departure and entry points on both

sides, " said Herry Djoko Susilo, head of the sub-directorate of

species and genetic conservation of the Directorate-general of Forest

Protection and Nature Conservation (PHKA) in reference to the long and

porous coastline of the Straits of Malacca.

 

On the seventh orang utan (from Johor Zoo), he is confident that it

would eventually be returned to Indonesia: " Perhilitan has promised to

send it back when I met with its enforcement director Misliah Mohamed

Basir on the eve of the repatriation. We are looking forward to

receiving it. "

 

However, it is unclear who will foot the bill. MASkargo and Garuda

sponsored the air passage for the respective flight sections of this

repatriation.

 

To a question that some felt that since Indonesia had failed to

enforce its national law to curb wildlife poaching and is therefore

not in the position to demand for repatriation, Herry admitted

Indonesian's weakness: " Indeed, we were weak in enforcing our laws but

we are trying to improve. We have established patrol units,

confiscated illegal wildlife pets and are trying our best to prosecute

the culprits. We now have five rescue centres with the help of

non-governmental organisations. "

 

He stressed that repatriation is crucial for combating illegal

wildlife trade in the region. " It is the responsibility of countries

that have ratified Cites to protect the natural resources not only of

their own but also of other countries. We should strengthen our

co-operation in implementing the convention's rules and not point an

(accusing) finger at one another when there is a problem. "

 

Overseeing the repatriation process, Sumatran Orang Utan Conservation

Programme (SOCP) scientific director Dr Ian Singleton said it was the

first time that the programme received confiscated animals from abroad

and from a zoo.

 

Law enforcement

 

" The majority of the orang utans that we take in are confiscated

animals that were kept as pets in the home of locals. "

 

In a vast country struggling with administration and law enforcement

amid widespread corruption, it is not surprising that 60% of

confiscated animals are from personnel in the military and police.

 

" When the forestry law enforcers said the animals were confiscated,

chances are they were surrendered by an army officer or a high ranking

policeman. The owners gave up the animals because the novelty of

keeping them had worn off and not that they respect the authority of

the forestry officers, " said Singleton who has been involved in

conservation work in Sumatra for a decade.

 

More illegal orang utan pets are being reported and seized by the

authorities than before. Some were confiscated from as far as Java and

Kalimantan.

 

Despite the remaining small number of the Sumatran species and the

fact that only three populations in the Gunung Leuser ecosystem are

considered scientifically viable with 1,000 individuals, Singleton

reckoned that the Sumatran has a brighter future than the three

Borneon subspecies. He said Borneo has very little lowland forest –

the key habitat of the orang utan – left to facilitate reintroduction.

 

Singleton said the situation in Sumatra is better as the peat swamp

forest in Aceh is still relatively intact. Many logging and plantation

concessionaires were not activated or were abandoned due to the long

strife. SOCP has been successful in getting two expired concession

areas converted to protected areas.

 

Concession areas

 

But pressure from logging and plantation quarters is constantly

threatening its plans. At Bukit Tigapuluh National Park where SOCP has

run the reintroduction programme since 2003 in collaboration with

PHKA, effort to incorporate expired logging concession areas to extend

the boundaries of the 150,000ha park is being challenged by commercial

interests to convert the selectively logged forest into plantations.

 

Bukit Tigapuluh in the central province of Jambi is the largest

protected lowland forest in Sumatra and deemed the most crucial

habitat for the revival of the Sumatran orang utan.

 

At the quarantine centre, the six orang utans will have their blood

and faecal samples tested for parasites and hepatitis viruses, X-rayed

and inspected for illnesses. They must be fit and disease-free before

joining the reintroduction programme at Bukit Tigapuluh. For

identification purposes, microchips with assigned serial numbers were

implanted under their skins.

 

The orang utans' behaviour will be observed. After the quarantine

period of one month, they will be moved to a larger 'socialisation

cage' where they will eventually live as a group in preparation for

the reintroduction. Singleton said the six animals from Malaysia would

very likely form a socially compatible group as they were already

familiar with one another.

 

For the six orang utans, they will soon realise that all the fuss is

worthwhile. After all, these are necessary to give them a second

chance to roam free.