Captive breeding for orangutan

Captive breeding for orangutan

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The provincial tourist office is calling on the authorities to establish a breeding center for orangutans as a way of promoting North Sumatra tourism.

The office's chief, Abdul Manan, said the current program of rehabilitating orangutans and sending them back to the wild has been successful, but this was not doing tourism any good, Antara reported.

Local tour operators said many foreign tourists were let down to find that there were no more orangutans at the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Bahorok, at the foot of Mt. Leuser.

Bahorok has been cited as one of the province's tourist attractions.

At best, tourists could catch a glimpse of the apes during feeding times. (emb)