Despite pressure from wildlife campaigners to repatriate the infant orangutans rescued from an alleged international trafficking racket in Odisha’s Balasore, past cases indicate that returning the primates to their natural habitats could prove to be a complex and challenging process, reports TOI’s Riyan Ramanath V.
Indonesian officials have indicated their readiness to coordinate with Indian authorities to trace the animals’ origins and facilitate their return. The young orangutans are currently under intensive care at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, thousands of kilometres away from their native forests in Southeast Asia.
