22 orangutans died last year

22 orangutans died last year

SEMARANG: Some 22 orangutans in East Kalimantan's Balikpapan
Orangutan Survival reintroduction center died last year, the
Natural Resources Conservation Center (NRCC) reported on Monday.

The information was revealed in a letter from the East
Kalimantan NRCC to the West Java office rejecting a plan to
relocate orangutans from West Java to Balikpapan, said Central
Java NRCC officer Shokhib in Semarang.

In the letter, copies of which were sent to all NRCC offices,
one of the reasons given was the high mortality rate at the
conservation center run by the Balikpapan Orangutan Survival
Foundation.

Referring to the same letter, the Central Java NRCC delayed
its plan to relocate three orangutans and chose to keep them in
the local zoo.

"We will investigate the cause of death," Indonesian Zoo Watch
director Luki K. Wardhani said, adding that 10 deaths in a month
would make it a case.

Primate relocations have been initiated since 1999. Most of
them were illegally sold or orangutans kept as pets. Luki also
stated concern over the poor condition of four local Indonesian
zoos observed by the organization, where 70 percent of zoo
animals lived in small, dirty cages. -- JP