Nature Alert: Baby orang utans rescued

Tuesday 30 June 2009

Baby orang utans rescued

The Star, Malaysia
June 30, 2009

Baby orang utans rescued

By HILARY CHIEW

KUALA LUMPUR: Three baby orang utans believed to be part of a smuggled group of five animals were confiscated from the Taiping Zoo and a private ostrich breeder in Klang recently by the Department of Wildlife and National Park (Perhilitan).

The raid on the zoo came about after the private ostrich breeder in Klang, who was keeping one of the five baby orang utans, revealed the matter to Perhilitan enforcers.

It is learnt that Perhilitan is searching for the remaining two babies.

Confirming this, Perhilitan’s deputy director-general Misliah Mohamad Basir said the zoo was raided after a tip-off.

“All orang utans at the zoo are microchipped but these specimens were without microchips, hence we are able to ascertain that they are of dubious origin,” she said, adding that they were also without official papers.

As the orang utan is a totally protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as well as prohibited from international trade for its status as an Appendix I species on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), keeping the animal is only possible with a special permit from Perhilitan.

Following the high-profile expose of the smuggling of about a dozen of orang utans from Indonesia in 2005, Perhilitan took an inventory of all orang utans held by private and public zoos to show its commitment to stemming out trafficking in the endangered species.

Orang utan, the sole Asian ape, is only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Three sub-species of the genus Pongo pygmaeus are distributed in Borneo while Sumatra is home to Pongo abelii.

Misliah also said DNA samples of the two apes were taken to determine their origins and to facilitate further investigation and prosecution.

The confiscated orang utans are being held at Perhilitan’s temporary shelter in Cheras and are said to be healthy.

The Taiping Zoo officials could not be reached for comments.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/30/nation/4207442&sec=nation

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.