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NATURE NEWS
1,000 orangutans smuggled out of Indonesian province annually
By DPA
Jul 11, 2005, 19:00 GMT

Jakarta - Some 1,000 orangutans, an endangered species in Indonesia,  
are smuggled out of the province of Central Kalimantan each year, an  
environmental group said Monday.

Profauna Indonesia blamed weak law enforcement in the area for  
allowing continued smuggling of the animal, which they say could  
become extinct in a decade in Kalimantan, and in five years in its  
other Indonesian habitat on Sumatra island.

"Weak law enforcement in Central Kalimantan has given benefit to  
poachers to reap great profit from smuggling orangutans," Profauna  
Indonesia Coordinator Fitri Agustina was quoted as saying by the  
state-run news agency, Antara.

A recent report by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network under  
the World Wildlife Fund and the World Conservation Union, said  
gibbons and orangutans were still being illegally traded in bird  
markets on Bali and Java islands, and that most of the primates found  
at the markets originated from Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The animals from Sumatra are mostly transported overland to Java,  
while those from Kalimantan arrive in Bali and Java by sea. Most of  
them were then smuggled to other countries by air from Jakarta's  
Sukarno-Hatta International Airport, the main exit point for  
primates, the report said.

According to existing Indonesian laws, orangutans have been declared  
a protected species and may not be caught, killed, owned or traded.  
Violators can be given up to five years in prison and fined 100  
million rupiah (11,000 dollars).

A baby orangutan can fetch up to 110 dollars if bought in the local  
areas where they live. The price can increase to between 300 and  
1,000 dollars when sold in Java and some 50,000-dollars on the  
international market.

Last year conservation groups demanded Thailand return to Indonesia  
more than 100 smuggled orangutans used in controversial kick-boxing  
bouts in Bangkok.