Saving Baby Orangutans From Smuggling | Foreign Correspondent

[Music] they might look happy but these rare animals have been stolen drought and sent far from home this boy was born in summer high in the trees giving birth the mother and the mother must've been shocked just because some rich person somewhere in this world believed leaf start having an orangutan as a pet is okay tonight inside a multi-billion dollar global business we made the smugglers that's like killing a human being and the campaigners putting their lives on the line it's a well oiled very well organized criminal gang its mafia and we find out how some of the great apes are finally coming home after a lifetime in captivity they're just about to release this orangutan in this beautiful lush forest where it should be [Music] [Music] [Music] we're about three hours south of Bangkok on our way to film some babies they're not just any old babies these are orangutans who were stolen from a forest in Indonesia and discovered in the backseat of a bangkok taxi animal rights campaigner edwin wheat is taking us to meet them yeah so these are the ones that came from the taxi yeah it's actually quite sad to see that in a couple of months now at least with you they're at each other this is Namita and she suka just over a year ago filmed in the back of a taxi by an anti trafficking group the group used Facebook to pose as a buyer paying a deposit of three thousand US dollars thai police held the driver for a few hours then letting go without charges as for the real criminals behind the sale of these three-month-old orangutans will come to them a bit later this is very good a year on the rescued babies have a new temporary home here at a government century they're just two of many smuggled orangutans that end up in Thailand every few months far from their jungle home in Indonesia so an takes care for our ranks here thank you just basically feeds them every day Duncan or Muller happen so they're still doing milk they come and smell you now baby they look healthy yeah okay these four babies were all ripped from their mothers what's the prospect of these guys going back to the jungles of sriracha because they're young there's a much better chance of them being repatriated back to Indonesia and going X who really to the world especially because they are Sumatran so there's a good chance which the political will there they have a bond now the longer animals are out of the wild the harder it is to send them back Denis have to walk across on econia and he's also Harry's been here for three years Harry Harry will you be nice please Harry was found in in a public bus together with a Bornean Langer and a Bornean given the three of them but they were put on a bus in a box to be sprung to route to Bangkok they were caught in Hua Hin so that's about half an hour for my centre orangutan trafficking is a lucrative business worth perhaps tens of millions of dollars per year by some estimates babies are stolen from the jungles of Indonesia and sold as pets and for zoos for entertainment range hands are especially valued because they can be dressed up and taught to do tricks this was filmed recently at a zoo just outside Jakarta the most lucrative destination is the Middle East where the trafficked animals can fetch tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars so this is the best way to get around yeah this is the best way because it's large originally from the Netherlands Edwyn week is a pioneer in wildlife protection in Thailand and a bit of a local legend 18 years ago he survived a serious car accident ever since he's devoted his life to rescuing and caring for animals he runs projects throughout Asia including this refuge in southern Thailand his work often brings him into conflict with authorities I've been in jail several times because you're pissing off the wrong people illegal wildlife trade is very lucrative a lot of people make lots of money including some politicians or government officials in some cases I've been pulled out of my car once at night by a couple of people pretending to be police who probably weren't they could have killed me if they wanted but I didn't basically is it's it's shocking baby maybe where you going me me are you going well done well done in [Music] you see this is not what I would suggest as a her normal habitat for orangutan but it's a great area to teach them how to live in the trees again it wouldn't takes me to meet Maggie and Chico two orangutans who are still damaged from their former lives as pets dare they are [Music] anti as long as you don't fight me I'll be fine Chico likes long chico he's five years old and was taken from the rainforests of Borneo when he was a baby he used to belong to a senior Thai police officer Chico were you gonna do what he gonna do with an umbrella it was dumped because he was true difficult to handle Maggie where are you oh there she is there she is you see her hanging up there is yeah Maggie is from Sumatra she was smuggled into Thailand as a baby and was somebody's pish Maggie come on so she looks for a high place and then she just everyday she builds a nest unfortunately we can't let her sleep here because the local people would probably kill her at night if they're goin ting in the area and they see something in the tree they wouldn't know what it is and they'll just shoot it first and then check it so oh she's so clever clever girl but while maggie displays all the right signs of rehabilitation chico shows none he doesn't even know how to climb a tree if you realize that this boy was born in the jungle of Borneo so we're high in the trees giving birth the mother and the mother must've been shocked yeah of course just because some rich person somewhere in this world believed leave start having an orangutan as a pet is okay you can see in one view here the boy being completely wasted by humans against a girl who has found her kind of freedom again and and it's living a much more natural kind of life Edwin says many of the rescued animals he returns to Indonesia end up back in zoos so they're just just caged again first case again so I find it utterly disgusting that the Indonesian government is not keeping its promise that the animals that were confiscated in Thailand and repatriated back to Indonesia were put into proper rescue facilities to be at least rehabilitated to some kind of social life with other orangutangs in the semi world but even better back to the world [Music] we're about to find out just how bad it can get we've come to the Indonesian capital Jakarta to investigate Edwin's claims and after repeated requests we finally managed to get inside a government-run animal rescue centre thank you very much I know it's late to see a male orangutan jonno who's been caged here for five years after being confiscated from a local group that kept him as a pet we hear him before we see you Johnno was rescued in April 2012 he's been in his cage ever since this is just being so incredibly confronting to see the animal caged like this this huge orangutan caged in his cage behind me for five full years he's obviously distressed it's been we're told jonno will finally be taken to an orangutan sanctuary sometime this year but he'll still need to be caged at 15 years old he's huge and now dangerous orangutan z' can live for up to 60 years in the wild but for him rehabilitation is no longer an option [Music] around the corner his baby ocean confiscated from a house in South Jakarta he's been caged since April last year owning a pet primate is a big status symbol here even though it's illegal chances are that like most trafficked orangutan babies oten was grabbed after traffickers killed his mother we found an insider who can tell us exactly how it all works way to Madden in North Sumatra where a former wildlife smuggler has agreed to talk to us he was involved in smuggling orangutangs we want to quiz him about what motivated him how much he was paid and what sort of sinister underworld he was actually involved in [Music] driven by guilt he's now an informant for scorpion an anti wildlife trafficking unit based in Indonesia we must protect his identity or he could be killed tell me how did you first become involved in smuggling of wildlife he would pay a local tribesman the equivalent of 50 Australian dollars for a baby and on sell it to a middleman for around two and a half thousand dollars he was selling around three orangutans a week so I won't she if you could describe to me in detail how the hunter gets the orangutan of the mother yeah yeah to the bottom bajalia with the DDM local I get a report on a filament of magnets near and perjuring a stiletto in the internet a typical out of the timber the poor pathetic are you skaara the rubbish abhava marrow by the VBR leave his orangutan smuggling career ended after one last traumatic kill my daughter would a young yelling some support ammonia luring Mama's swing led into an identity then infidelity who'd a descriptor I'm feeling kind of independent appear older her daddy also that's not gonna be a [ __ ] doormat versatile is everything and according to you and your view of orangutangs that's like killing a human being yeah that's a blur it's about the my give a lesser medically descended a business idea if it's a consumer Anna [Music] the smugglers are constantly devising new ways to get the animals out of the country our X molar and other sources tell us they rely partly on corrupt officials at airports in America maybe around a debris as I saw she suddenly sampled in a goober soon you were a Canyon satellite oh the path taken pampers please Cassie willing to prepare the drink of my Willy and apply a very well I have look at the ability paper that I develop and blowers on yeah even Emily it's not just a ranch hands that are in demand this baby Gibbon was discovered a few months ago in the Jakarta home of a wealthy Indonesian who wanted it as a pet we've seen it all pilots cabin attendants being used to smuggle stuff because they can eventually prove whatever they want on the plane anyway we've seen diplomats using their diplomat suitcases to smuggle wildlife or parts of wildlife the Chinese are notorious for it they do it all the time from Africa it's all possible it's a well-oiled very well organized criminal gang its mafia behind it that means they go from Indonesia they're in Malaysia they're in Thailand everywhere [Music] some smuggled orangutans do get a second chance we've come to East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo to see how the rescued animals are reintroduced into the wild Borneo is one of the most heavily forested areas left in Indonesia but with only 50,000 wild orangutans --zz left their critically endangered it's even worse in Sumatra where it's believed there are only six and a half thousand they're the only two places in the world where wild orangutans --zz leave and they're in danger of dying out due to habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade [Music] hi Heidi Hardy bhakti an Toro runs the Center for orangutan protection or cop I always like to call Hardy the orangutan commando he is one of the real people fighting on the front line against the abuse the poaching the trade of orangutangs and other wildlife but especially your ranking thanks in Indonesia and at the same time he's gotta be politically correct and keeping in good shape with the authorities in Indonesia because if he wouldn't he couldn't continue his work pop he seems to really like her a lot papi was found wandering near a local farm her mother was almost certainly killed by hunters she'll need the help of her human surrogate Witte for at least three years just like a human baby orangutan Sneed feeding every couple of hours right through the night when they kept as pets they really get the care they need our mr. Takashi McCann Miku ring Massey the quantity kadala one young guru our security King don't hit a cameraman Tiana Tatara talam Curtis a petite alarm us papi is on her way to Forrest school these are her classmates here they'll very simply learn to be orangutans to find their own food in the jungle to climb to be wild she's crying Poppi he's the least brave in the class but they'll all have time to learn they'll remain here for at least another five years before being released into the wild economies kakouton dedicate to her secret Michael Jia ni poha Nikita developed EMF in turn upon defeating the lucky ticket of Chateau de catorce night her husband employer okay okay it's my hair okay once they've matured and have reached a state of semi wild it'll be time for the next step a pre-release island and no cages for a while [Music] we're heading there now to deliver the adult orangutan z-- their breakfast [Music] the alpha male Hercules was rescued from a decrepit University zoo in 2015 soon he'll be released back into the wild they've waited a bit long they were getting really angry with me so there's corn and banana this is Aki he's about to be set free after spending most of his 15 years in some form of captivity we're lucky enough to be able to film with Hardy and his team as it happens I can every second burger a lumpy person is per mo getting Piniella made to be on war appears happening to you first he has to be sedated [Music] [Music] [Music] then they take samples of his fingerprints and hair so they can identify him later finally Aki is transferred into an even smaller box ready for tomorrow's journey [Music] it has to be small though he can't move around and hurt himself or us we set off early the next day it's a long journey with many delays and the vet is worried about Aki spending 20 hours in a very small box stress under the table syndicate to be supply sardini calendar is a more dynamic dagger the Recology temperature ooh condemned animal to Mia dos are concocted the lung condition sang upon us at Osama diamond you terribly sneakin a perjurer angel processor ooh man yo three smaller modules comedy scene II then to custody smug it's is bugging me decided I had to put up Nagar now the final make a true kilometer walk into the Sun guy lesson Conservation forest so we're just actually across the river were having a few issues with our camera which is folding up but to really hard thing to film actually but it's really quite incredible what a special moment after a lifetime in captivity they're just about to release this orangutan in this beautiful lush forest exactly where it should be [Music] [Music] [Music] Aki isn't following the script normally orangutan 'he's a solitary animal in the wild move quickly away from humans and climb a tree we leave all alone now Aki returns unsure of what to do or where to go he finds a camera in the tree and tries to ESEs [Music] it's a new day [Music] a team returned last night and said that he had made a nest which was a really really good sign now we're heading back up early this morning with the Veth to check that he's okay the next big thing is that he has to have eaten some fruit from the trees so we'll see for now he hasn't gone far from where he was first released then he spots us it seems to be following its donor so the bits just told us to hurry up and get away I finish so probably not ideal for our own safety we have to leave the path and head through the dense rainforest we're talking can I get a flower my beauty therapy ah sir forget Graham miles per team the collision happened eventually we shake him off kuroky there's a good chance it will all end well sadly he's the exception those government officials Indonesian know very well what's going on they know who the hunters are Dana where the traders are without help from the authorities you wouldn't get these and I was out of the country and this remains a very dangerous game for those trying to expose the corruption when I stopped at a red light and a motorbike with two people stopped next to me I sometimes bit worried when I go somewhere I haven't been before but kind of fear more for my Thai colleagues or my Indonesian colleagues like Hardy whose lives are probably in more danger than mine as for the smugglers who used Facebook to sell the babies in the taxi it's business as normal we've been told by a reliable source that investigations into the case have stalled even though Thai police know who the perpetrators are where they live and have bank account evidence against them for now no meter and Shizuka are stuck here in Thailand the rainforests home in Sumatra is still too dangerous Indonesian authorities admit that a ranch hands are likely to become extinct in the wild in 50 years some conservationists fear it will be much sooner Edwyn weeks's that just shouldn't be allowed to happen whether there are influential politicians government people or just wealthy business people hit them as hard as you can they should be hit as hard as drug dealers happen dealers that's what they really are we'll make sure that these poachers are being caught being stalled at all to stop and hurt them too because if it doesn't hurt it won't work [Music]

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 754,640

Keywords: orangutans, national geographic, animal conservation, indonesia, animal smuggler, animal trading, thailand, animal rights, Sumatra, Borneo, Foreign Correspondent, gibbons, illegal, trafficking, Edwin Wiek, orangutan, smuggling, gibbon, animal cruelty, Hardi Baktiantoro, correspondent, Centre for Orangutan Protection, foreign correspondent indonesia, foreign correspondent orangutans, orangutan smuggling, sumatra orangutan, borneo orangutans, borneo jungle, orangutan trade, orangutan baby

Id: t1W-lC7Y8Tw

Length: 29min 41sec (1781 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2018