In a
press conference on Tuesday (9th of February 2016) in Jakarta, the
Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) announced that 17 orangutans had
been repatriated from Thailand and Kuwait. 6 Orangutans out of 17 would be returned to Borneo
while, 1 would be returned to Sumatra, while 10 others were still under medical care.
Over
50 representatives were invited to the press conference, among them were 10 NGO’s
including FORINA (The Forum for the Indonesian Orangutans), BOS Foundation,
SOCP, WWF, WCS, ZSL, CI, FFI, JAAN, and Scorpion Foundation.
When
the invitation arrived at Scorpion office, a member of Scorpion Board of
Directors asked me: “10 NGO’s are invited to this press conference, and
Scorpion is one of the 10. Why do you think Scorpion is invited to the press
conference?”
I
told him that there was actually an untold
story behind that. Then I explained to him how Scorpion involved in
encouraging the repatriations. Later I thought, it was probably good to share
the untold story to others via the Scorpion web.
Here is the untold story.
Repatriation from Thailand
In July 2015, the Scorpion Foundation formed a coalition called “NGO Coalition for Repatriation of Orangutans from Thailand.” With Scorpion being its leader, the coalition members included the Indonesian Friends of the Animals (IFOTA), Friends of the Orangutans (FOTO) Malaysia, and Nature Alert (United Kingdom). After a long distance discussion among the coalition members about the conditions of the orangutans in Thailand, this NGO group decided to send a joint letter to the Minister of Environment and Forestry Mrs. Siti Nurbaya Bakar. The letter was finally sent on 27 July 2015 urging the Minister to repatriate the 14 orangutans from Thailand.
The 14 orangutans stolen from Indonesia were confiscated in Thailand in 2009 consisted of eight males, four females, and two babies had since been born. Mating took place through bars of the cages.
Conservationists were up in arms at the broken promises and callous disinterest shown by Indonesian government towards helping repatriate orangutans to Indonesia.
We explained in the letter that these orangutans were stolen from Indonesia. We wanted them returned and soon. It’s only right we bring them back home to where they belong and from where they were stolen.
The highly endangered
orangutans were being kept at the Khao Pratabchang rescue centre in the
Ratchaburi province which was managed by the Thai Department of National Parks.
No one at the rescue centre had any prior experience of caring for orangutans.
While the males were kept together and did not have access to
an outside enclosure, they fought amongst themselves. This is natural dominance
which a submissive, younger male orangutan could flee from in the jungle. No
zoo would ever keep two mature males together.
The females and their babies are held 24/7 in the cages with no room to exercise and nothing to do. This confinement of a species which is highly intelligent (possessing 97% of our DNA) is extremely cruel.
Upreshpal Singh of Friends of Orangutans (Malaysia) visited the orangutans in late January 2015. He also met with the Thai authorities.
Singh, plus Sean Whyte of Nature Alert (UK), went on to meet with senior Indonesian Ministry of Forestry officials. There was unanimous agreement: Indonesia would definitely request formally the repatriation of the orangutans.
To follow up the coalition letter, the coalition
members, both in group or by Scorpion alone made visits at least 3 times to the MoEF
asking progress of the repatriation plan.
Repatriation from Kuwait
From the first person reported by Scorpion to Jakarta Police, the police had been able to develop the report which resulted in detaining of 6 persons involved in the international trade syndicate including a Libyan, and 1 civil servant working for the Animal Quarantine at Sukarno-Hatta International Airport, and 4 traders. From the 6 persons, the police successfully developed the information of the orangutan smuggling to Kuwait. The orangutans from Kuwait finally returned to Indonesia.
The coalition letter to Mrs. Siti Nurbaya Bakar in July 2015:
Attachment page 1:
Attachment page 2:
