(MY) orang utan DNA results

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Ding-dong over orang utan DNA results - Malaysiakini on-line

Andrew Ong

Oct 6, 05 11:29am

 

The origin of eight orang utans, thought to be of the critically endangered

Sumatran species (pongo pygmaues abelii), remains a mystery three months

after DNA testing was completed.

 

Contacted today, Wildlife Department law and enforcement director Misliah

Mohd Basir the results have been forwarded to the Natural Resources and

Environment Ministry.

 

" I'm not sure of the ministry's decision as to when it will announce the

results... they may (do so) through a press release, " she said, declining to

elaborate.

 

Several senior ministry officials, when contacted, said they were not

familiar with the issue.

 

In May, Misliah had told malaysiakini that her department would conduct DNA

tests on several orang utans owned by A'Famosa Resort in Malacca to

determine whether or not they are of the Sumatran species.

 

Some of these animals had been spotted at a show in the Kuala Lumpur Bird

Park, where the claim was made that these were of the endangered species

" only found in Sumatra " .

 

The show was cancelled in April following public complaints. Commercial

trade in orang utans violates the Convention of International Trade of

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which took effect in 1975.

 

Dwindling species

 

It is learnt that A’Famosa resort has kept six of the orang utans and

transferred seven to the Malacca Zoo. The company's website indicates that

the orang utans can be watched " playing golf, taking part in a weightlifting

contest, cycling and mimicking a rock band " .

 

The Sumatran species, listed as 'critically endangered' by the World

Conservation Union, is dwindling in population due to illegal logging and

subsequent deforestation. At present, the species is mainly found north of

Lake Toba.

 

Despite being protected by Indonesian law since 1931, trade in the species

is rife, according to a recent report by wildlife trade watchdog Traffic.

 

The report - In Full Swing, An Assessment of Trade in Orang-utans and

Gibbons on Java and Bali, Indonesia - analysed data from 1994-2003 on

information collected from 35 wildlife markets in 22 cities across Java and

Bali.

 

Investigators found that many orang utans were sold openly in local bird

markets. It is estimated only 7,300 Sumatran orang utans remain in the wild.