KL sends orangutans home to Medan

KL sends orangutans home to Medan

MALAYSIA: Six Sumatran orangutans that were smuggled into Malaysia and displayed at a theme park for almost four years have been flown home, reports said on Sunday.

The primates were flown to Jakarta on Saturday aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight dubbed the "Orangutan special", and transferred to a Garuda flight for their final destination in a Medan wildlife sanctuary, the New Straits Times said.

The decision to return the orangutans, aged between three and four years old, was made after the wildlife department conducted a DNA finger-printing exercise following a tip-off.

The Sumatran orangutan is listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which means they are critically endangered status and cannot be traded.

An estimated 7,500 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild. -- AFP