National parks staff will return three smuggled orangutans to Indonesia under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (Cites) next Thursday.
The handover was aimed at strengthening the good relationship between the two countries and also showed Thailand’s determination to combat the illegal wildlife trade, saiod Narin Pratuanchai, deputy chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
Thailand ratified Cites in 1983, when it signed the international treaty to protect endangered plants and animals.
The first apes to be returned will be a seven-year-old male orangutan named Nobita and a seven-year-old female named Shisuka, which have been in the care of the Ministry of National Resources and Environment since 2016, he said.
The third ape is a four-year-old male named Bryant, who has been under the care of the ministry since last year.
These three apes were saved from a wildlife smuggler and have been living in the ministry’s wildlife breeding facility in Ratchaburi province ever since, he said.
The three animals have all tested negative for tuberculosis and hepatitis, he said, adding that authorities found their DNA defined them as a species of orangutan commonly found in Sumatra.
Indonesia is covering all the costs of transport and health checks of the orangutans.
The three apes are the last of a group of five saved in Thailand; the first two were sent back to Indonesia last year.