Bhubaneswar, September 12: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Bhograi MLA Goutam Buddha Das has sought a probe by central investigating agencies into the recent rescue of five young orangutans in Odisha, alleging that their presence in the state raises serious concerns about possible international wildlife smuggling and security.
Speaking about the incident, Das questioned how the orangutans could have reached Odisha from Indonesia and raised concerns over the progress of the ongoing investigation.
“These young orangutans have raised serious questions about how they reached our region from Indonesia and whether there is any smuggling. It has been five days, but the STF and Forest Department have still not reached the suspected smugglers,” Das said.
The BJD legislator called for the involvement of central agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), in the probe.
“If orangutans can be smuggled from Indonesia, it raises other security concerns as well. The investigation should therefore involve central agencies such as the NIA, CBI and IB through a joint inquiry, rather than being limited to the STF and Forest Department,” Das said.
The five orangutans were rescued near Badapali village under Bhograi block in Balasore district on Tuesday morning, prompting the Forest Department to investigate how the animals reached the area.
According to Balasore Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Indalkar Pratik Prakash, forest officials received information from a member of the Vana Suraksha Samiti (VSS) at around 6 am about five animals believed to be monkeys.
“When our staff arrived and inspected the site near Barpai village in Bhograi block, they discovered that the animals were actually orangutans,” the DFO said.
All five animals were found to be young and showed limited movement, although they were alert and active. Forest officials initially provided them with food at the site. As a crowd gathered, the animals were rescued and shifted to the Udaipur Section Office for further assessment.
The DFO said the young age and limited mobility of the orangutans suggested that they could not have travelled a long distance on their own. He also pointed out that their survival overnight in the area would have been difficult because of the presence of jackals, foxes, dogs and langurs.
“Smuggling is a possibility, but we cannot state that conclusively right now because we haven't found any evidence regarding it,” Prakash said.
He added that orangutans are not native to Odisha and do not naturally migrate across such habitats, leading the Forest Department to suspect human intervention.
“We will investigate who brought them, and only then will we be able to say for sure,” he said.
The rescued animals comprise two females and three males, all estimated to be around one year old. Forest officials, veterinarians and biologists have examined the orangutans, while the department has also coordinated with scientists from Nandankanan Zoological Park and experts from the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).
The Forest Department's investigation is continuing to establish the origin of the animals and determine how they came to be in Odisha.
