Five baby orangutans rescued in Odisha forest near West Bengal border
Five rescued Orangutans being kept in quarantine at Nandankanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar Photograph: (ANI)
Five baby orangutans were rescued from a casuarina forest in Odisha's Balasore district. Authorities are probing possible wildlife trafficking.
Authorities have rescued five baby orangutans far away from their natural habitat in a forest in the eastern state of Odisha on the morning of September 8, 2026. India has no wild orangutan population; they are found only in Indonesia and Malaysia. The animals were seen moving through the casuarina forest at around 6 am. Photos and videos of these critically endangered apes sitting and eating bananas quickly spread online.
"The five animals were found in Ranakata, a proposed reserve forest in Bhogarai block, near the West Bengal border," said Balasore District Forest Officer Pratik Prakash Indalkar.
"The area is covered mainly by casuarina trees and is not a dense forest. It is also close to a state highway," he added.
The authorities have scanned the area; they have not found any orangutans. Authorities have described them as infants, though locals are describing them as one or two years old.
He said that the red-haired ape could not have otherwise reached Asia if it were not transported by Road. They were given first aid and taken to Nandankanan Zoological Park in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, where they are in quarantine and being monitored.
Odisha's Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia said that the investigators are examining whether they might have been trafficked into India by an international smuggling network and abandoned near the highway.
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The orangutans are classified as a critically endangered species and are normally found in tropical forests. There are three known living species of orangutans: Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli. India does have tropical forests, but their natural habitat lies on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The species usually remains with their mothers, developing skills needed to survive. Females also reproduce slowly and take almost eight years to give birth once. Over the years, their population have decreased due to deforestation and habitat loss.
This is not the first time orangutans have been found in India. In 2022, similarly, two baby orangutans were found abandoned on the border between Assam and Mizoram. International commercial trading of orangutans is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). They are also protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Despite these they are often trafficked and sold as exotic pets to private collectors.
