Editorial on orangutan smuggling

[Guest guest]

Editorial from 5 November issue of " The Nation " . The Nation is published in

Thailand.

 

Killing orang-utans out of kindness

 

Published on Nov 5, 2003

 

 

No more orang-utans should share the fate of the three baby apes that made

headlines recently. Two were rescued from an illegal slaughterhouse in

Nonthaburi's Sai Noi district and one was found frozen to death in a

cooling container in a wildlife trader's house in Bangkok. One of the

rescued orang-utans later died of an infection.

 

Orang-utans (a Malay word meaning " man of the forest " ) should be left alone

with their families in the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra, the major

habitats of the species.

 

Unfortunately, their fate is being dictated by ignorant, insensitive

" animal lovers " who have the misconception that orang-utans should be kept

as household pets. Baby apes are violently wrested away from their mothers

and their natural habitats to other parts of the world where they are

valued as pets or cute attractions at zoos.

 

Orang-utan babies look so cute and behave so much like human children that

many people want one as a playmate for their child. But this is strictly

illegal since the animal is protected by the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna.

 

Those who keep orang-utans as pets always claim that their pets were born

in captivity, but that is not true since the animal is rarely bred in

captivity. Almost all baby orang-utans are taken from the wild.

 

Being protective of their young, orang-utan mothers always keep their

babies within reach, not only to feed them with milk but also to prevent

them from getting lost in the treetops where they reside. It is impossible

for humans to climb up a tree as high as 30 metres to grab a baby from its

mother. And it is impossible that an orang-utan mother would give away her

child without a fight.

 

The truth is, the only way to take a baby orang-utan is to shoot the

mother. The large size and slow movements of the species make it an easy

target for hunters. However, sometimes things don't go as planned. Many

baby orang-utans have been accidentally shot as well, or die from falling

to the ground together with their dying mothers.

 

An orang-utan mother has only one baby at a time. To take one baby as a

cute pet - worth up to Bt500,000 - at least one mother must be killed.

 

The International Primate Protection League, a United States-based

conservation organisation, say they have information that six baby

orang-utans were shipped to Thailand two months ago.

 

It is believed that members of a wildlife-trade racket entered the habitat

of the orang-utans and shot their mothers dead. The babies were then

smuggled to Thailand on a fishing boat from Indonesia to Samut Sakhon

harbour. They must have been kept in a dark and damp room in the boat's

hull. Some probably died on the way while the survivors slipped into

Thailand without passing a customs checkpoint.

 

Almost a decade ago, Taiwan was a major destination for smuggled

orang-utans as many Taiwanese were happy to care for the animals as pets.

The popularity of orang-utans in the Taiwanese pet trade was stimulated by

a television show that featured a pet baby orang-utan. It is estimated that

after only six months of broadcasts of the show, up to 2,000 baby

orang-utans were captured and smuggled into Taiwan. Researchers estimate

that over 6,000 mothers were killed and 4,000 captured babies died to

supply the 2,000 pets, since only about one-third of those captured survive.

 

However, the fashion did not last for long. As with other wild animals that

are cute for humans only when they are small and young, when orang-utans

reach the adult stage, people do not want to feed them any longer.

 

Veterinarian Chisanu Tiyachareonsri, vice chairman of the Wild Animal

Rescue Foundation of Thailand, says that just a few years after the show,

orang-utans were abandoned in many places in Taiwan.

 

" Once they are unwanted, they become something like street dogs in

Thailand, " he said.

 

The Orangutan Foundation International was then set up with help from the

international community to rescue the abandoned orang-utans. Some lucky

orang-utans were sent back to their habitat in Indonesia while others are

still taken care of at the foundation. A popular female orang-utan, Su Su,

the wife of Mike, an orang-utan housed in the Army's Lopburi Zoo, was given

to Thailand by the foundation.

 

If the three remaining babies in the recent shipment are not found, where

will they end up?

 

Chwann Tunhikorn, director of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Variety

Department's Wildlife Conservation Office, believes that it might be the

private sanctuary of a millionaire or a zoo.

 

It does not matter what the motives are of those who seek orang-utans as

pets. The story of their suffering shows us that the trade is an inhumane

practice.

 

It is difficult enough for the 30,000 or so orang-utans believed left in

the wild to struggle to survive, as their natural habitats are being

encroached upon by humans. Seeking them as pets could be the final nail in

the coffin of these beautiful, gentle animals.

 

Pennapa Hongthong

 

THE NATION