In full swing: assessment of trade in orang-utans and ... - WWF UK

Indonesia, primates are not especially common souvenirs. However, with the recent increase in military activities in
Aceh and northern Sumatra in general, the number of (White-handed and Agile) gibbons, Siamangs and (Sumatran)
orang-utans arriving via these routes may soon increase.
Similar responses to Malone et al. (2002a) were collected when inquiring during this survey about Sumatran primates at
bird markets [or when browsing through files provided by the regional office for the conservation of natural resources
(KSDA)], that is, the place of origin was frequently reported to be Kalimantan. The reverse, i.e., Bornean primates said
to originate from Sumatra, was, however, rarely encountered. Although very often the information about the origin of
animals is incorrect (and many animals are said to originate from exceedingly far away and exotic-sounding places),
there is a small possibility that a proportion of the animals from Sumatra are firstly transported to Kalimantan and from
there, they are shipped further to Java.
There are no large harbours along the north coast of Bali and therefore, it is likely that the majority of the gibbons and
orang-utans that arrive on the island do so overland via Java, crossing the Bali Strait. There are strong links between the
traders at the Ksatria bird market in Denpasar and the Kupang bird market in Surabaya and many of the birds offered
for sale at the Balinese bird markets arrive from Java.
Undoubtedly, some gibbons and orang-utans will be transported from Sumatra and Kalimantan to Java by air as well,
but the numbers are likely to be small. One example of this was reported where a sedated young orang-utan was
transported from West Kalimantan to Java by plane (C. Saleh, WWF-Indonesia, pers. comm. to TRAFFIC Southeast
Asia). No information was received about gibbons and/or orang-utans being smuggled out of Java through routes other
than the major airports, although unquestionably, given the scale of the illegal trade network, every year a number of
them must leave Indonesia by sea or over land. There have been several cases where international wildlife dealers have
(successfully or not) made attempts to smuggle especially orangutans,
but also gibbons and Siamangs, out of the country via the
Sukarno-Hatta international airport in Cengkareng.
Investigations by ProFauna Jakarta and others have claimed to
reveal a complex and extensive network of smugglers working in
close co-operation with Customs officials, police and airport
personnel at this airport. These NGOs claimed that this group of
organized criminals has been involved in the export of at least two
dozen orang-utans (and possibly more) in the first few months of
2003 alone (Hardi Baktiantoro, Profauna, pers. comm to Vincent
Nijman, 2003). According to ProFauna, these animals may be
transported to destinations including the Netherlands, Germany,
Taiwan and Japan. Although there were no indications that
orang-utans were sent to Thailand via Java (or Bali) during the
course of the survey, it should be noted that orang-utan smuggling
to entertainment parks in Thailand is a topical issue. The
Orang-utan show at an entertainment park
prominent case in 2004 regarding 115 orang-utans that were
found in Safariworld, Bangkok indicated that orang-utans may be
smuggled directly from Borneo or Sumatra into Thailand. A DNA check of the 115 orang-utans have reconfirmed the
suspicion that most of these apes were not bred in the zoo, as indicated by the owners (Wiek, 2004). The smuggling chain
may extend beyond Thailand, as 22 orang-utans were said to have been smuggled from Thailand into another
entertainment park in Cambodia whereby the apes were being forced to perform for tourists (Anon, 2004a).
Credit: Saiful Adlan Jaffry
IN FULL SWING:ASSESSMENT OF TRADE IN ORANGUTANS AND GIBBONS ON JAVA AND BALI,INDONESIA 24