Five Baby Orangutans Found in India Spark a Trafficking Investigation

Five baby orangutans were found in a small forest in Odisha, eastern India, on Tuesday, far from the rainforests of Southeast Asia where they live. Local people called officials, who rescued them. The group had three males and two females, and officials believe they are between six months and one year old.

They are now at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, kept away from other animals and getting food and a special drink. Vets say they are stable.

Officials say the animals could not have reached the area naturally. Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia, Odisha's forest and environment minister, said investigators were checking whether a group that moves animals illegally across countries brought them into India. Those people may have left them near a highway because they feared arrest or because their transport went wrong. A ship from Malaysia through Kolkata is one possible route.

Wildlife experts say the age of the babies makes the case serious. Young orangutans stay with their mothers for several years, and females give birth only about once every eight years. Taking babies from the wild hurts their already small populations. All orangutan species are critically endangered, which means there are very few left. It is against the law to buy and sell them between countries.

This is not the first case in India. In 2022, two baby orangutans were found abandoned near the Assam-Mizoram border. For now, the five animals remain at Nandankanan. The discovery shows that removing baby orangutans from the wild is still a serious problem for a species that is already in danger.