Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\nVillagers who found five baby orangutans in a casuarina forest in India in September were puzzled by their reddish hair and unfamiliar faces.<\/p>\n
Left on a plantation in Odisha, the three males and two females\u2014aged six to eight months\u2014were found over 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) from their native rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra, evidence of an expanding illicit trade of apes into India.<\/p>\n
The young animals are now housed at an Indian zoo, where caretakers have reportedly been playing classical music to help soothe them.<\/p>\n
Native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, wild orangutans sustain rainforest ecosystems by scattering seeds across vast areas, enabling trees to regenerate and store carbon that would otherwise contribute to global warming. Driven by severe habitat loss, the species is critically endangered, with approximately 119,500 remaining in the wild according to the World Wildlife Fund.<\/p>\n
The global illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth $34 billion annually, according to a 2026 study by researchers at the National University of Singapore, with India emerging as an important destination. Experts emphasize that confiscations reflect only a fraction of a booming trade in non-native and exotic animals sold to wealthy Indian collectors.<\/p>\n
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Rescued baby orangutans huddle together in Bhograi village in Balasore district of Odisha, India (DFO Balasore Wildlife Division via AP)<\/p>\n
India\u2019s wildlife laws were largely crafted to protect native species like elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers from being trafficked overseas. Regulatory gaps in controlling imported animals complicate efforts to trace the origins of exotic wildlife.<\/p>\n
Interceptions have grown frequent. In 2022, two juvenile Sumatran orangutans were found in boxes at a checkpoint between Assam and Mizoram. Another was rescued in Mizoram in 2023, and a young orangutan was found in an apartment near Mumbai in November 2024. At least 23 gibbons were seized at Indian airports in 2025, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Wildlife Trust of India, while Egyptian authorities intercepted three sedated, India-bound baby chimpanzees in May 2026.<\/p>\n
“India has become the number one destination for the live trade of primates,” said Sinan Serhadli, a wildlife trafficking expert at the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia\u2019s North Sumatra province.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s exotic wildlife trade and Southeast Asian trafficking routes<\/p>\n
Wealthy collectors who prize rare animals as \u201cstatus symbols\u201d are driving the trade in trafficked animals from Southeast Asia, a regional hub for trade in species from elsewhere, said Uttara Mendiratta, a wildlife trafficking researcher in India.<\/p>\n
Expanding tourism has led to more direct flights to India through cities like Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, giving traffickers routes that are faster, albeit riskier, than overland border crossings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe profit margins are so high that they can afford to lose a few (animals) and still make a profit,\u201d Mendiratta said.<\/p>\n
Questions also surround legal trade. Most commercial trade in orangutans is banned, but exceptions exist for captive-bred animals. India imported 41 orangutans between 2021 and 2024, according to CITES, the global treaty regulating trade in endangered wildlife.<\/p>\n
Sinan Serhadli, a wildlife trafficking expert at Indonesia\u2019s Orangutan Information Centre, questioned whether the animals were legitimately bred in captivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows the loopholes. And … corruption as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CITES Secretariat declined to comment, saying the matter was under review.<\/p>\n
Loopholes in India\u2019s wildlife laws enable wildlife trafficking<\/p>\n
Concerned about diseases spreading from animals to people during the COVID-19 pandemic, India allowed people to register their exotic animals in 2020 without proving their origins.<\/p>\n
They can report births, deaths and breeding of non-native species through an online portal. But the government lacks enough staff and expertise to adequately inspect collections and identify global species. The system also leaves room for trafficked animals to be misrepresented as registered ones, Mendiratta said.<\/p>\n
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A rescued baby orangutan hangs on a pole in Bhograi village in Balasore district of North Odisha (DFO Balasore Wildlife Division via AP)<\/p>\n
India tightened its wildlife laws in 2022, giving authorities clearer powers to seize illegally traded exotic animals and prosecute traffickers. But by then, it already had \u201copened the floodgates,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s exotic pet trade \u201csits at the crossroads of biodiversity loss, unbridled community demand, and organized criminal activity,\u201d said a 2026 report by Humane World for Animals India.<\/p>\n
India’s forest ministry didn’t respond to AP’s request for comment.<\/p>\n
Indonesia renews push to repatriate orangutans from India<\/p>\n
Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry said it was taking \u201cactive steps\u201d to bring home the five baby orangutans found in Odisha, sending experts to verify their origins and assess their health.<\/p>\n
Their mothers were likely killed, traumatizing infants that normally would depend on them for up to nine years.<\/p>\n
Conservationists have successfully returned orangutans to Indonesia from Thailand, but so far only one has been repatriated from India.<\/p>\n
When one orangutan was transferred last year to a private wildlife facility known as Vantara, run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani\u2019s family, India\u2019s federal wildlife officials and India\u2019s CITES authority were not informed, a federal wildlife official to New Delhi wrote in a report.<\/p>\n
Officials concerned over the orangutan’s care at a local public zoo ordered it transferred to Vantara, which describes itself as a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. The orangutan was treated for a respiratory infection and pneumonia before it was returned to Indonesia on Oct. 19 after 19 months at the private facility.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s CITES authority didn\u2019t respond to AP\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
Questions over the world\u2019s rarest great ape in Indian zoo<\/p>\n
Vantara, a 3,500-acre wildlife facility in western India, has over 150,000 animals and over 2,000 different species.<\/p>\n
It has faced international scrutiny over its animal acquisitions. In November 2025, CITES questioned shipments to Vantara that included snow leopards from Germany, a bonobo said to have been bred in Iraq and a gorilla reportedly from Haiti. The primates are not native to those countries.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s Supreme Court cleared Vantara of wildlife trafficking and animal mistreatment allegations in 2025.<\/p>\n
In September, 27 wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations issued a letter urging the facility to end imports of wild animals, raising concerns about endangered species and animal welfare.<\/p>\n
The groups said they had \u201cnever encountered anything comparable to the scale and diversity\u201d of Vantara\u2019s imports, citing more than 60,000 animals acquired in a short period.<\/p>\n
One controversial acquisition, according to Vantara’s 2024-25 inventory, is a Tapanuli orangutan, the world\u2019s rarest great ape. Recognized as a distinct species only in 2017, it’s only found in a small area of Indonesia\u2019s Sumatra island, where 716 remain in the wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tapanuli orangutan is hovering just above extinction,\u201d said Serhadli, whose organization is one of the few that works with the species. The one at Vantara would be the only Tapanuli orangutan in captivity.<\/p>\n
CITES trade data shows that the animal left Indonesia in 2024 and arrived in India via the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can\u2019t happen legally,\u201d Serhadli said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry said it was taking \u201cseriously\u201d reports that a Tapanuli orangutan might be outside the country. It said it couldn’t confirm the animal\u2019s species, origins or how it got to India. An investigation would require checking permits and transfer records, along with scientific testing, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
Neither Vantara nor Indonesia\u2019s CITES authority responded to requests for comment from AP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-644399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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