The Odisha government has submitted a request to the Central Zoo Authority for permission to house five rescued Orangutan cubs at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar. This initiative aims to provide a safe environment for the cubs after their rescue.
CZA is yet to respond to the state government’s request. Meanwhile, there were reports that Indonesia has moved the Indian government seeking repatriation of the rescued Orangutans. State Forest and Environment Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia on Friday said the state government had two days ago written a letter to the CZA seeking permission to keep the five Orangutan cubs, rescued from Bichitrapur forest in Balasore district in the morning of September 8, at Nandankanan Zoo.
After their rescue, the five Orangutan cubs were shifted to the zoo, where they have been quarantined in a temperature-controlled room and are gradually getting acclimatised with the local environment, an official said. The minister said though Orangutans are mostly found in the rainforests of Indonesia, Malaysia and some other countries, they can easily adopt to the climate of Odisha. “Climatic conditions replicating those in Indonesia have been created in the zoo for the stay of the rescued animals,” the minister said. Orangutans are not new to Odisha’s climate and they have survived in the coastal state before, according to officials. The state government has provided all facilities for the comfort of the Orangutans to de-stress them as they showed a range of emotions, from playful behaviour and brief mood swings to anxiously clinging to one another, they said.
