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10 Orangutans in Thailand Have No Way Home
Fidelis E Satriastanti | July 27, 2010

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The chances of at least 10 orangutans stranded in Thailand of going home to their native Indonesia are looking increasingly slim because of financial constraints.

The orangutans, which were brought to Thailand through illegal trade, are now being held at the Thai government’s Khao Phra rehabilitation center, about 100 kilometers outside Bangkok.

“We are aware of [the orangutans’] status and we have written to the Thai government offering to share the costs of a repatriation shipment, but they have not responded to our requests,” said Harry Santosa, director of biodiversity conservation at the Ministry of Forestry.

Harry said there were no regulations, even in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, on how to return illegally traded species to their countries of origin.

“It seems that if the Thai government agreed to pay [to return the orangutans], it might look as if they had taken part in the stealing of the animals,” he said.

“But, if all of the expenses were dumped on us, it would be too expensive to bear.”

Harry said the government had also approached Bangkok with another proposal: a breeding loan. “It’s just like exchanging animals — in return for the orangutans, we would get some animals from them,” he said.

The breeding loan would also eliminate the potentially dangerous need to put the orangutans in an Indonesian rehabilitation center, Harry said.

“We are afraid [the orangutans] might not enter in a good condition and could affect other animals in the center,” he said.

Sri Suci Utami Atmoko, an orangutan expert from Jakarta’s National University, also said it would be difficult to find homes for the orangutans in Indonesia because all the rehabilitation centers were already full.

“We’ve had problems trying to release at least 48 orangutans back into their original habitat, so at this time many NGOs think the government should focus more on the animals in rehabilitation centers,” she said.

Indonesia has an estimated 7,500 Sumatran orangutans and 45,000 Bornean orangutans. Both populations are endangered.