Odisha awaits CZA nod to keep orangutans

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is awaiting permission from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to keep five rescued orangutan cubs at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar. 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 Baleshwar district in the morning of September 8, at Nandankanan Zoo. The 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. 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.

The minister said though orangutans are mostly found in the rain forests 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.

According to officials, orangutans are not new to Odisha’s climate and they have survived in the coastal State before. The Nandankanan Zoo already has a special enclosure for orangutans, but it remained empty following the death of a 41-year-old female orangutan in 2019. It was brought from a zoo in Pune in 2003.

The minister said, “It will be very good news for animal lovers in Odisha if the CZA allows Nandankanan to retain the five orangutans. The tourist footfall would certainly increase.” Meanwhile, the authorities of the Nandankanan Zoo said the five cubs were receiving food and oral rehydration solutions.

The cubs – three male and two females – are aged between six months and one year and stand at one to one-and-a-half-feet tall. 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. The animals have also been playing with soft toys, listening to music as per the advice of the animal health experts and are gradually becoming stress-free, Nandankanan Zoological Park Deputy Director Pradeep Mirase said.

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