Orangutan repatriation from Odisha complex: Experts cite scientific, legal, and diplomatic hurdles

Despite pressure from wildlife campaigners to repatriate the infant orangutans rescued from an alleged international trafficking racket in Odisha’s Balasore, past cases indicate that returning the primates to their natural habitats could prove to be a complex and challenging process, reports TOI’s Riyan Ramanath V.

Indonesian officials have indicated their readiness to coordinate with Indian authorities to trace the animals’ origins and facilitate their return. The young orangutans are currently under intensive care at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, thousands of kilometres away from their native forests in Southeast Asia.

According to experts cited by TOI, tracing their origins is a protracted process involving molecular genetic analysis and identification of their maternal lineage before the animals can be repatriated.


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Despite the Wildlife Society of Odisha urging the Odisha principal chief conservator of forests to initiate the repatriation process, the scientific, legal and diplomatic hurdles involved could mean that Nandankanan remains the only home the orangutans know.

The forest department constituted a five-member technical committee for the orangutans on Saturday. The panel will assess their health and other needs and can consult or co-opt national and international experts as required.

“Wild animals should be released into the wild. The same principle applies to orangutans even if they come from a foreign forest. Previous efforts to release rescued wild animals have failed, and many eventually became permanent inmates,” wildlife campaigner Biswajit Mohanty told TOI.

Read more: Orangutans have the longest birth gap among mammals; a 2018 study explains how their 7.6-year wait for another baby, scarce forest fruit and solitary life may actually help them survive

An earlier case in 2013 involved a male tiger that was shifted to an enclosure after straying into Nandankanan. Despite campaigns by Mohanty and others for its release, the tiger had other plans. After briefly escaping captivity, the big cat returned to the zoo on its own, where it lived for the rest of its life.

Another example emerged in 2021, when five bears rescued from traffickers near Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary were brought to Nandankanan. Although initially suspected to be sloth bears, they turned out to be the much rarer Himalayan black bears. The Central Zoo Authority approved their display at the zoo after the animals had spent nearly three years off exhibit.

Wildlife activists also cited cases of rescued pangolins and elephants that were never returned to their natural habitats.

Against this backdrop, conservationists fear the five infant orangutans could face a similar fate. For now, however, the unlikely castaways are gradually adapting to their new surroundings.

Zoo authorities told TOI that the orangutan babies appeared healthy and were settling comfortably into captivity.

(With inputs from TOI)