Published on: Friday, December 18, 2020
By: AFP
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Sumatran orangutan sits in a cage before being repatriated from Thailand to Indonesia after having been smuggled into the kingdom, at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
BANGKOK: Eating fruit and drinking from plastic bottles, two Sumatran orangutans stared from their cages at Bangkok airport on Thursday before flying home to Indonesia, years after being smuggled into Thailand.
Poachers in Southeast Asia frequently capture the critically endangered orangutans to sell as pets, and police said four-year-olds Ung Aing and Natalee were supposed to be sold to a tourism business.
Wildlife traffickers tried to smuggle the two in via Malaysia in June 2017, but they were intercepted at the border – along with 39 Hamilton tortoises, 12 Indian turtles and six raccoons – after police received a tip-off about the vehicle they were in.
Two smuggled Indonesian orangutans fly home from Thailand
Police said four-year-olds Ung Aing and Natalee were supposed to be sold to a tourism business H. J. I./AFP
17.12.2020
WORLD
Two smuggled Indonesian orangutans fly home from Thailand
Two Sumatran orangutans flew home from Thailand years after being captured and smuggled into the country
Foto: AFP
Eating fruit and drinking from plastic bottles, two Sumatran orangutans stared from their cages at Bangkok airport on Thursday before flying home to Indonesia, years after being smuggled into Thailand.
Poachers in Southeast Asia frequently capture the critically endangered orangutans to sell as pets, and police said four-year-olds Ung Aing and Natalee were supposed to be sold to a tourism business.
BANGKOK, THAILAND Eating fruit and drinking from plastic bottles, two Sumatran orangutans stared from their cages at Bangkok airport on Thursday before flying home to Indonesia, years after being smuggled into Thailand. Poachers in Southeast Asia frequently capture the critically endangered orangutans to sell as pets, and police said four-year-olds Ung Aing and Natalee were supposed to be sold to a tourism business. Wildlife traffickers tried to smuggle the two in via Malaysia in June 2017, but they were intercepted at the border along with 39 Hamilton tortoises, 12 Indian turtles and six raccoons after police received a tip-off about the vehicle they were in.
How does poaching harm orangutans?
Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered and fewer than 15,000 of them are thought to remain in the wild. Widespread destruction of their rainforest habitat, as a result of logging, mining and palm oil production, has pushed the Sumatran orangutan to the brink of extinction.
Illegal poaching of the species is another of the biggest factors affecting their declining numbers. Fragmented populations split up by roads and plantations make easy targets for traffickers, according to the
sell them on as pets and police say Ung Aing and Natalee were intended to be sold on to the tourism industry.