San Francisco Frontiers - Indonesia seeks to bring back baby orangutans allegedly trafficked to India

The critically endangered animals were found Tuesday by rangers patrolling in the Balasore district of India's eastern Odisha state.

Authorities suspect the primates, known for their shaggy red fur, were trafficked into India, sparking a criminal investigation.

The youngsters, estimated to be about one-and-a-half years old, appeared to be healthy and were being cared for at a zoo after their rescue, the ministry said in a statement.

Orangutans in the wild are native only to Indonesia's Sumatra island and Borneo, which it shares with Malaysia and Brunei.

The five infants appeared to be of Sumatran origin, the ministry said, and DNA tests will be used to confirm where they were from.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists Sumatran orangutans as critically endangered, the young of the species are weaned only at about seven years of age.

The last estimate of the species' population size, in 2016, was just over 13,500.

- Critically endangered -

The Indonesian government has requested India hand over the apes, forestry ministry spokesman Ristianto Pribadi told AFP on Friday.

"The forestry ministry has begun communicating with the government of India through the Indian embassy in Jakarta," he said.

Jakarta has also been in touch with conservation NGOs to help rehabilitate the baby orangutans, the ministry statement added.

Sumatran orangutan population decline is blamed on habitat loss and fragmentation due to human encroachment, as well as illegal hunting.

The Tapanuli orangutan, another species native to Sumatra, is also classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 800 believed left in the wild.

Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder of the Orangutan Information Centre, an NGO, said it supported bringing the primates home.

"Repatriation should be the priority," he said. "In my opinion, the DNA tests can be done after repatriation."

Wild orangutans have been put under pressure in recent weeks by forest fires that have plagued the region and consumed swathes of Borneo island.

In Borneo's West Kalimantan province, at lest 15 of the animals have been rescued from flames and haze since July, some stuck in plantations after fires cut off access to their forest home.

T.Martin--SFF