International smuggling suspected after five orangutans found in Odisha forest

A joint investigation has been launched into the suspected international smuggling of five baby orangutans found in a forest in Odisha’s Balasore district, state Forest and Environment Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia said on Wednesday.

The probe by the Odisha Police Special Task Force (STF) and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) will seek to establish how the animals reached Balasore, who transported them and whether an organised trafficking network was involved.

Singhkhuntia said orangutans, which are not native to India, could fetch between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh each in the international market. The animals are indigenous to the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia, particularly Borneo and Sumatra.

Villagers spotted the young apes clinging to trees in a casuarina forest in the Bichitrapur area of Balasore’s Bhograi block on Tuesday morning and alerted the forest department.

The animals were subsequently rescued and taken to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, where they have been quarantined. Veterinary doctors are monitoring them, and their condition is stable, the minister said.

Three of the orangutans are male and two are female. They are estimated to be between six months and one year old and stand approximately one to one-and-a-half feet tall. Zoo officials said they were being provided food and oral rehydration solutions and kept in an air-conditioned environment.

Odisha STF Inspector General Himansu Lal said a team headed by an officer of the rank of superintendent of police had reached Balasore and begun its investigation.

STF Deputy Inspector General Vishal Singh said investigators were collecting information locally and were in contact with the Centre’s wildlife authorities to determine whether similar cases had previously been reported elsewhere in India.

The team has contacted the Balasore superintendent of police and divisional forest officer to obtain details of the rescue. Forest officials and local police are also visiting homes in the surrounding area to gather information.

Residents told investigators that they had seen a black SUV on a road near the forest on Monday night. The vehicle was also captured by CCTV cameras, and police believe identifying its owner could provide an important lead.

Investigators are examining CCTV recordings from airports, ports and major railway stations to trace the animals’ route. The Coast Guard has also been contacted to determine whether the orangutans may have been transported by sea.

The Odisha Forest Department has sought information from zoos across the country on whether any orangutans are missing from their facilities.

Nandankanan has a dedicated orangutan enclosure, but it has remained vacant since its only orangutan died in 2019 at the age of 41. The female animal had been transferred to the Bhubaneswar zoo from Pune in 2003.

Singhkhuntia said the state government had requested permission from the Central Zoo Authority to retain the five rescued orangutans at Nandankanan.

With IANS inputs