Four Thai government agencies are pledging closer cooperation to prevent wildlife trafficking through stricter border controls, as Thailand returned three trafficked orangutans to Indonesia.
Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation announced, in late December, the successful repatriation of three orangutans: Nobita and Shizuka, both seven years old, and Brian, five years old, to Indonesia. Nobita and Shizuka were just months old when Thai wildlife officials rescued them during a sting operation in Bangkok in 2016. Brian was rescued from traffickers in 2019.
Today, orangutans are critically endangered species found only in the rain forests of the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Their natural habitats are rapidly decreasing with deforestation and agricultural plantations. International trade in orangutans is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Rachmat Budiman, Indonesia’s Ambassador to Thailand, told the Bangkok Post that he was grateful to Thailand for the repatriation but said he has “mixed feelings” about it: happy the orangutans will be back in their natural habitat but sad for the Thai caretakers who had bonded with the animals over several years.
Director Narongrit Sookprakan of Wildlife Border Section, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said the agency has been working closely with the Royal Thai Police, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fisheries, and the Department of Livestock Development to prevent and suppress wildlife smuggling along the borders of Thailand and neighboring countries.
The Thai agencies hope to forge partnerships with neighboring and nearby countries to tighten monitoring, surveillance and interdiction of wildlife trafficking. The illegal global trade in wildlife has been estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars a year, rivaling the trade in narcotics.
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