Indian forest officials rescue five baby orangutans suspected of being smuggled

Indian forest officials rescued five baby orangutans in the eastern state of Odisha on Tuesday, with authorities suspecting the great apes were smuggled into the country from Southeast Asia.

The animals, not native to India, were found in a forest in the Balasore district. Local legislator Goutam Buddha Das told The Telegraph newspaper that villagers first spotted the orangutans dangling from a tree and initially mistook them for monkeys, before alerting forest officials that their appearance didn't match.

He said the area's coastal location suggested the animals could have arrived by sea from Indonesia.

"I demand a high-level inquiry to find out who is involved in the racket," Das said.

Balasore forest officer Pratik Prakash Indalkar said the three male and two female orangutans were examined by veterinarians, found to be in good health, and given food and oral rehydration solution before being transferred to Nandan Kanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar for quarantine.

Odisha Environment Minister Ram Singh Khuntia said the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is now investigating how the animals reached India.

"We suspect that an international racket might be involved in this," he told the IANS news agency. Authorities are also examining whether the animals were destined for sale to buyers in Kolkata.

Orangutans are native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Only about 104,000 remain in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, down from more than 230,000 a century ago.

The Tapanuli orangutan is critically endangered, with fewer than 800 animals thought to be left.

When forest officials in India's Odisha state found five baby orangutans on a patrol, thousands of kilometers from their natural habitat, the officials suspected they were trafficked into the country from Southeast Asia.

In other news, the Indian government has steered clear of controversy in the row over Hindu group BAPS's visit to the Eiffel Tower.

Finally, New Delhi is gearing up to host the 18th BRICS Summit from September 11 to 13. With security protocols being heightened and hotel prices skyrocketing, the non-high-profile Delhi visitors may be in for a hit to their pockets.