48 smuggled orangutans arrive home in Indonesia

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48 smuggled orangutans arrive home in Indonesia

AP

November 21, 2006

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Forty-eight orangutans rescued from a Thai amusement park

returned home to Indonesia on Wednesday and will soon be released into a jungle

reserve on Borneo island, officials said.

 

The animals — who were forced to perform in daily boxing matches in Thailand

before being confiscated in August 2004 — were flown to the capital, Jakarta,

on board an Indonesian military transport plane.

 

" They are in a very healthy condition, " said Masyhud, a forestry ministry

spokesman, told reporters at the airport. Masyhud goes by a single name.

 

The animals were seized from the private Safari World zoo near Bangkok and have

since been kept in a wildlife breeding center. Five other Indonesian orangutans

taken from the zoo remained in Thailand for medical treatment, said Masyhud.

 

The orangutans were to have been repatriated Sept. 23 but the generals who

staged a military coup against the Thai government of Prime Minister Thaksin

Shinawatra refused to allow a foreign military airplane to land in Thailand at

that time.

 

The orangutans will soon be shipped to a reserve in Indonesia's Kalimantan

province, said Masyhud.

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/22/asia/AS_GEN_Indonesia_Smuggled_Orangut\

ans.php

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AFP/Getty Images:

 

RATCHABURI, THAILAND:

 

Thai forestry officials scan a microchip embedded in a orangutan at the Khao

Pratap Chang wildlife preserve in Ratchaburi province west of Bangkok, 21

November 2006.

 

Indonesian wildlife experts prepared 48 smuggled orangutans for their journey

home, two years after they were seized from a Bangkok zoo.

(PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=72612383 & cdi\

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RATCHABURI, THAILAND: Thai forestry officials holds an orangutan prior being

loaded into a cage at the Khao Pratap Chang wildlife preserve in Ratchaburi

province west of Bangkok, 21 November 2006.

(PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

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RATCHABURI, THAILAND: A Thai forestry official scans a microchip prior loading

an orangutan in a cage at the Khao Pratap Chang wildlife preserve in Ratchaburi

province west of Bangkok, 21 November 2006.

(PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=72612372 & cdi\

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RATCHABURI, THAILAND: A Thai forestry official carries an orangutan to a cage at

the Khao Pratap Chang wildlife preserve in Ratchaburi province west of Bangkok,

21 November 2006.

(PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

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RATCHABURI, THAILAND: A Thai forestry official holds an orangutan as it is

loaded into a cage at the Khao Pratap Chang wildlife preserve in Ratchaburi

province west of Bangkok, 21 November 2006.

(PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=72612309 & cdi\

=0

 

RATCHABURI, THAILAND: A Thai forestry official loads an orangutan in the cage at

the Khao Pratap Chang wildlife preserve in Ratchaburi province west of Bangkok,

21 November 2006.

(PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

 

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=72612305 & cdi\

=0