Five Baby Orangutans Rescued in Odisha; Trafficking Inquiry Under Way

Five baby orangutans have been rescued from a forest in Balasore district in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, triggering an investigation into suspected wildlife trafficking, the state's environment minister said.

Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia said the inquiry was examining the case from "different kinds of angles" and that answers would take time. Noting that the species is not found in India, he said the animals must have been brought in from abroad and that an international racket was suspected.

The apes were found by forest staff during routine patrolling earlier in the week, according to assistant conservator Tatini Sethi. After the rescue, a team of specialist doctors began assessing the animals' health.

Sethi said the central question for investigators was how a species foreign to India came to be in an Odisha forest.

Orangutans are native to the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The rescued infants were later placed in a cage and moved into a vehicle by forest officials as a crowd looked on.