Bhubaneswar, Sept. 10 -- The rescue of five baby orangutans abandoned in a Balasore forest has raised serious concerns over the illegal international trade in endangered wildlife, with experts warning that the animals may have been taken from the wild after their mothers were killed or bred in appalling captive conditions.
The five juvenile orangutans, an endangered species native to Southeast Asia and not found in the wild in India, have now been shifted to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar and placed in quarantine. The State's Special Task Force (STF), wing of the Crime Branch, has launched a probe into how the animals entered the country and eventually reached the Balasore forest.
The Forest and Environment Department has also...