Bangkok Post - Zoo finally agrees to return 5 apes on loan

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Pressure on Nightsafari by NGO's works!

 

 

 

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NIGHT SAFARI ORANGUTANS SOON TO GO HOME

 

Zoo agrees to return 5 apes on loan

 

Bangkok Post - APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

 

Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo has agreed to return five orangutans it borrowed

from wildlife authorities to their home in Indonesia. The five apes are

among the 53 orangutans seized in a raid on the Safari World park in Bangkok

in 2004. The other 48, currently kept at the Khao Pratap Chang wildlife

rescue centre in Ratchaburi province, are due to leave for Indonesia

tomorrow after veterinarians confirmed they had been captured from the wild

in northern Sumatra, and not bred in captivity as claimed by Safari World.

 

Preecha Ratanaporn, deputy director of Chiang Mai Night Safari, said the

five apes' return would be delayed due to lack of travel documents.

 

He would send the five apes to a shelter at the Khao Pratap Chang centre

tomorrow, pending their repatriation.

 

''It's short notice and it is not possible for us to make it on Wednesday

together with the other 48,'' he said.

 

It is up to the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant

Conservation, which loaned the five apes to the Chiang Mai zoo, when it

would be ready to send the animals back to Indonesia, he said.

 

A source at the department said the repatriation process for the five apes

would be quick.

 

Orangutans are listed in Index I of the United Nations Convention on Trade

in Endangered species (Cites), meaning their trading is prohibited . Their

shipment also requires import and export licences.

 

Pornchai Pratumratnatan, chief of the Khao Pratap Chang centre, said the 48

apes would leave the centre's shelter this evening and leave for Indonesia

on board C-130 aircraft tomorrow at 5 am. They would be sent to a

rehabilitation centre in Kalimantan.

 

He expressed concern over a shortage of cages for the 48 apes as Indonesia

had sent only 42 cages. Travelling in cramped conditions would make them

feel stressed, he said.