Who’s a cheeky monkey? Phuket cops go ape over missing orangutan
Police raided the home of a Chinese woman in Phuket after a neighbour spotted an orangutan inside the property last week. However, no monkey was found during the search.
The Phuket Info Centre news page reported the raid on the Chinese woman’s residence on Wednesday, April 9. The house is located in Supalai Lake Village on Thep Kasattri Road, in the Koh Kaew sub-district of Mueang Phuket district.
The raid was carried out following a tip-off from a local in the same community. The person claimed to have seen the orangutan through a second-floor window and took a photograph as evidence.
Officials involved in the operation included officers from the Phuket Provincial Police, the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), Khao Phra Thaeo Non-Hunting Area, and the Phuket Wildlife Rescue Foundation.
Before the operation, officers contacted the registered owner of the property, whose nationality was not disclosed in the report. The homeowner admitted that his Chinese friend rented the house and previously brought the orangutan to the property.
Upon arrival, police met the Chinese woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, renting the house. It was unclear whether she admitted to illegal possession of the orangutan. However, police found no illegal animals on the premises.
Nonetheless, officers recorded the incident and announced plans to carry out further investigations into the orangutan’s whereabouts and how the Chinese woman came to possess the animal.
According to Thai law, the orangutan is not listed among the six protected monkey species, which are prohibited from being kept.
These six species are Macaca nemestrina (pig-tailed macaque), Nycticebus coucang (slow loris), Macaca mulatta (rhesus macaque), Macaca arctoides (bear macaque), Macaca fascicularis (crab-eating macaque), and Macaca assamensis (Assam macaque).
However, it is still illegal to import, export, possess, or breed an orangutan without permission, as regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Such actions violate Thailand’s Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act as well as the Customs Act.
Last month, DNP officers raided a luxury residence in the southern province of Songkhla following a tip-off regarding illegal wildlife.
At the scene, they seized a female white lion and a male liger, reportedly owned by an individual named Gomate. The owner was not present during the raid.
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