Balikpapan, E Kalimantan (ANTARA Kaltim) - Six orangutans returned by Thailand will be rehabilitated by the Indonesian government in Nyaru Menteng, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan.
"They were returned from Thailand. We will take them to Nyaru Menteng since based on the DNA tests, they are orangutans hailing from Central Kalimantan, or Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii," Dr Jamartin Sihite, CEO of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), stated here, Wednesday.
The six orangutans were flown in from Jakarta to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, before proceeding to Central Kalimantan.
The authorities have received a total of 16 orangutans returned from overseas since September 2015.
They included two baby orangutans respectively called Puspa, who is 10 months old, and 3-year-old Moza. They were confiscated from Kuwait.
"The orangutans must be rehabilitated first before being released into the forest," he affirmed.
Puspa is a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) and will be returned to the Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), which is located near Medan, North Sumatra, and led by Dr Ian Singleton.
Moza and Puspa were smuggled to Kuwait by commercial flights most likely from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta.
The return of Indonesian orangutans from abroad was coordinated by the Directorate General for Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystem, the Indonesian Orangutan Forum, BOSF, the Indonesian Safari Park, the Eijkman Molecule Biology Institute, and Sriwijaya Airways.
Dr Sihite has called for stronger commitment to protect wildlife and heavier punishment to be imposed on animal smugglers. (*)
COPYRIGHT © ANTARA News Kalimantan Timur 2016
"They were returned from Thailand. We will take them to Nyaru Menteng since based on the DNA tests, they are orangutans hailing from Central Kalimantan, or Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii," Dr Jamartin Sihite, CEO of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), stated here, Wednesday.
The six orangutans were flown in from Jakarta to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, before proceeding to Central Kalimantan.
The authorities have received a total of 16 orangutans returned from overseas since September 2015.
They included two baby orangutans respectively called Puspa, who is 10 months old, and 3-year-old Moza. They were confiscated from Kuwait.
"The orangutans must be rehabilitated first before being released into the forest," he affirmed.
Puspa is a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) and will be returned to the Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), which is located near Medan, North Sumatra, and led by Dr Ian Singleton.
Moza and Puspa were smuggled to Kuwait by commercial flights most likely from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta.
The return of Indonesian orangutans from abroad was coordinated by the Directorate General for Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystem, the Indonesian Orangutan Forum, BOSF, the Indonesian Safari Park, the Eijkman Molecule Biology Institute, and Sriwijaya Airways.
Dr Sihite has called for stronger commitment to protect wildlife and heavier punishment to be imposed on animal smugglers. (*)
Editor : Didik Kusbiantoro
COPYRIGHT © ANTARA News Kalimantan Timur 2016