Orangutans rescued in Thailand set to head home to Indonesia
Four orangutans rescued in Thailand are set to be flown back to Indonesia today, December 23, marking a rare cross-border wildlife repatriation effort between the two Southeast Asian nations.
The four orangutans, two males and two females, were rescued in separate wildlife trafficking cases earlier this year. Three were intercepted in Chumphon province in January, and the fourth was recovered during a sting in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao district in May. Another orangutan involved in the Bangkok case did not survive.
The animals had been under the care of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), which housed them at Wildlife Rescue Centre No. 3 in Ratchaburi province.
The orangutans, named Jay, Raikhing, Noon and Bow by Thai officials, underwent final health checks over the weekend, with Indonesian and Thai veterinarians confirming they were fit to travel. To minimise stress, the two males will be transported in separate crates, while the two females will share one during the flight.
Multiple sources confirm that the animals will depart from Suvarnabhumi Airport on a Garuda Indonesia flight bound for Jakarta, where they will be received by Indonesian wildlife authorities and eventually returned to their native habitat. This repatriation follows protocols under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which lists orangutans in Appendix I, prohibiting all commercial international trade in the species.
Both governments described this latest operation as a reflection of strong bilateral cooperation in tackling the illegal wildlife trade and upholding international conservation standards. Representatives from the Indonesian Embassy and Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry were present in Ratchaburi to oversee preparations.
In a separate rewilding effort, conservationists released four Indo-Pacific leopard sharks off Koh Maiton in Thailand’s first endangered shark rewilding project. The effort is part of the StAR Project which is an international collective of aquariums, NGOs, governments, academics, and local communities dedicated to scalable shark and ray rewilding.
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