2 Baby Orangutans Lost Their Mothers to Wildlife Traffickers – But Now They’re in Good Hands

Two baby orangutans just arrived at International Animal Rescue‘s center in Ketapang under some very disturbing circumstances. The babies were rescued in a raid conducted by police from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Rapid Response Unit. An investigation was carried out after reports from the community about a house that was holding endangered species inside.

The two orangutans were found stuffed into tiny cages, dehydrated, and severely stressed.

One orangutan is a male around one-year-old and the other is a female about eight months. Both of their mothers are believed to have been shot and killed while trying to protect them.

The babies will be cared for with the other 109 orangutans at the rescue center in Ketapang.

Sadly, this is a fate that befalls the highly endangered orangutan all too often. The traffickers were likely going to sell these little ones as pets. 

The police are continuing their investigation as the man arrested for the illegal trafficking of wildlife also admitted to selling other endangered species such as eagles and gibbons. This leads authorities to believe that he is a part of an international trafficking syndicate. The man not only sold wildlife through direct transactions, he has also used social media as a resource which has increasingly been used by wildlife traffickers. Tantyo Bangun, Chairman of IAR Indonesia stated, “If we want to stop the trade in wildlife, we must target cyber crime.”

The illegal trade of orangutans is still one of the leading causes of their decline in West Borneo. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), orangutans in West Borneo have seen a 60 percent decline in the last 50 years, causing the IUCN to reclassify them as a critically endangered species. Thankfully for these two babies, they were rescued just in the nick of time.

To help International Animal Rescue care for the two new orangutan babies click here.

All Image Source: International Animal Rescue