Forest officials in India are investigating the potential trafficking of five baby orangutans found abandoned in a protected forest area, far from their natural habitat. The primates were discovered on Tuesday in the Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest in the Balasore district of Odisha state.
Footage captured the young orangutans, believed to be two females and three males all under one year old, sitting together and eating bananas. Forest officials estimate they had been in the location, which is near a highway, for two to three days. No adult orangutans were found nearby.
Balasore District Forest Officer Pratik Prakash Indalkar stated that the animals could not have reached Odisha on their own and are believed to have been brought there. The area where they were found is described as not being a dense forest and is close to a state highway.
The five orangutans were given initial first aid before being transported to Nandankanan Zoological Park in the state capital, Bhubaneswar. They have since been quarantined and are under observation. Reports indicate the young apes are adjusting well and have been seen playing with stuffed toys.
India's Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been asked to join the investigation, with police, forest officials, and a special task force also involved in the probe.
Orangutans are native only to the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. All three surviving species—Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli—are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their populations have declined significantly due to deforestation, habitat destruction, and hunting.
While the international commercial trade of orangutans is prohibited under the global treaty Cites, and they are protected by Indian wildlife legislation, illegal trafficking still occurs. These animals are often trafficked to be sold as exotic pets or to private collectors.
This is not the first instance of young orangutans being discovered in India. In 2022, two infant orangutans were found abandoned near the Assam-Mizoram border, with authorities suspecting they had been smuggled into the country from neighboring Myanmar.