Rescued orangutans used to humans, likely raised in captivity, suggest experts

BHUBANESWAR: The orangutan infants, who were rescued from Bichitrapur forest in Balasore district and now under care in Nandankanan zoo, are showing signs of familiarity with humans, indicative of being raised in a captive environment for quite some time, said experts on Sunday.

Head of the Centre for Wildlife Health (CWH) at OUAT Aditya Acharya told this paper that the infants’ ease in interacting with the caretakers is an indication that they had been in contact with humans and received care previously.

“Had these orangutan babies not been in captivity, they would have shown some kind of fear when approached by humans. However, they have shown no such signs since the very first day of their rescue and shifting to a new environment. This shows that they have been raised in captivity for quite some time prior to their shifting (smuggling) to Odisha,” Acharya said.

Acharya, who is a part of the five-member technical team formed by the state wildlife wing to monitor care of these baby apes, said they are gradually becoming familiar with their caretakers in the Centre for Rearing Animal Babies of Nandankanan. They are still kept in quarantine.

The animals are being managed by three dedicated caretakers and fed milk, fruits and other fluids every two hours as per the dietary chart prepared by the zoo in consultation with experts.

Sources said, one of the infants has mild fever and is under veterinary care. The blood test and DNA profiling of the rescued infants will be done at a later stage, they added.

The five orangutans had been rescued from Bichitrapur forest in Bhograi block of Balasore on September 8. The Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch has intensified its investigation in the matter, while the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has also joined the probe.