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