Rescued orangutans in Odisha likely spent time with humans, officials say

The behaviour of five orangutans rescued from Badapai village in Odisha’s Balasore district suggests they had spent some time in the presence of humans, forest officials have said.

Regional Chief Conservator of Forests Prakash Chand Gogineni told Down To Earth that it was not yet known whether the orangutans, which are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, had been taken from the wild or were captive-bred. “But their behaviour with humans and their ability to clearly respond to human behaviour suggest they are used to humans and have spent a bit of time with them,” he said.

The Bornean orangutan, endemic to the island of Borneo, is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Members of the Van Suraksha Samiti found the animals early on September 9, 2026 in an open area of a casuarina plantation near the Udayapur-Talsari border in Balasore’s Bhograi area. The five juvenile orangutans — three males and two females, all less than a year old — had been abandoned, officials said.

Villagers informed nearby patrolling forest officials after spotting what they first described as “monkeys”. Balasore Divisional Forest Officer Pratik Prakash Indalkar told Down To Earth that the orangutans were about six to eight months old and were friendly with forest department staff.

“They were not scared or stressed and were in totally healthy condition,” he said. Officials suspect the animals may not have come directly from the wild. Indalkar said female orangutans usually give birth to one infant at a time, making it rare to find five juveniles together.

He said their healthy condition, and the fact that local dogs or jackals had not harmed them, suggested they may have been abandoned the same night or only a few hours before they were found at around 6.15am.

Smuggling suspected

The incident has triggered combing operations and wider patrolling in the area to look for suspicious activity and check whether any other exotic animals may have been abandoned. Officials suspect the apes may have been part of a wildlife-smuggling operation.

Gogineni said the forest department had been carrying out patrols and checks for illegal timber in the range over the past few days. Traffickers may have panicked and abandoned the animals, he said. “We have to investigate whether it was a pre-planned action or whether they feared being caught,” he added.

Officials are also examining whether the abandonment may have followed a deal that went wrong.

Indalkar said Odisha can serve as a transit route connecting West Bengal with southern India. “West Bengal has a port and airport as well. The species can be easily carried without requiring a big case, given their size and age,” he said.

He added that there are 40 to 45 smaller routes through dense forest areas, which suspects could have used to avoid national and state highways. “We are checking CCTV footage to identify any suspicious vehicle,” he said.

Quarantine and repatriation

The orangutans have been sent to Nandankanan Zoological Park for rehabilitation and quarantine under the supervision of veterinarians and scientists. Officials said the incident had been reported under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, the animals will have to be returned to their country of origin. Indalkar said it would be difficult to establish whether the orangutans had been taken from the wild or were captive-bred in another country.

The state government will take the matter forward, he said.