Baby orangutans found in Indian forest spark trafficking inquiry
Five baby orangutans were discovered in a forest in Odisha, India, sparking an investigation into potential international wildlife trafficking. Authorities are working to determine how the animals, which are not native to India, were transported and abandoned near a highway.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the ongoing threat of illegal wildlife trade and the challenges of protecting critically endangered species across international borders.
Image source, Nandankanan, Bhubaneswar Image caption, Orangutans are critically endangered species and not native to India
Five baby orangutans have been found in a forest in India's eastern state of Odisha, far from their natural habitat, prompting an investigation into how they got there.
Photographs and videos widely shared online show the young apes sitting together on the forest floor and eating bananas, thousands of kilometres from the tropical rainforests where they belong.
Orangutans are not native to India. The critically endangered apes are found in the wild only in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Odisha's forest minister has said investigators are examining whether the animals were trafficked into the country by an international smuggling network and abandoned near a highway.
The orangutans were rescued early on Tuesday in Balasore district after local people spotted them and alerted forest officials.
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3 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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