ANN/THE STAR – Seven-year-old orangutans, Nobita and Shizuka, and four-year-old Brian, another Sumatran orangutan, were repatriated from Thailand to Indonesia, their native country during the weekend.
The Sumatran orangutan, also known as Pongo abelii, Nobita, and Shizuka, is the species of orangutan that the Thai police rescued in 2016 during an operation against the illicit wildlife trade in Thailand.
Brian, a male orangutan, was rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and handed over to the Thai wildlife authorities in 2019.
The three, previously under the care of the Kho Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre in Ratchaburi, were transported by air from Bangkok to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang.
“The repatriation of the three orangutans seized in Thailand is a joint commitment between Indonesia and Thailand in the effort to combat the illegal trade of wildlife,” said Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya.
She remarked in a statement that these three orangutans constitute the fifth group repatriated from Thailand, making a total of 71 orangutans returned since 2006.
The three of them were flown to Jambi, Sumatra, early yesterday morning to be temporarily cared for at the Frankfurt Zoological Society.
