Odisha wants five rescued orangutans to remain at Nandankanan

Five orangutans rescued in Bhograi, Balasore district, are being cared for at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar. Their health, food intake and weight were reported to be improving. Odisha’s government said it wanted the animals to remain in the state. No country had formally claimed them at the time of the report. An Indonesian wildlife expert team was expected to examine their health and other details. Any decision on their future would follow checks on their species and origin, and the required legal and international procedures. An orangutan rescued in Gujarat was returned to Indonesia on October 19, 2026, after coordination between wildlife authorities and CITES officials.

Notable Points

• Orangutan taxonomy: The Tapanuli orangutan was identified as a distinct species in 2017. It is more closely related to the Bornean orangutan than to the Sumatran orangutan.
• Nandankanan’s historical breeding programmes: Nandankanan bred a gharial in captivity for the first time in 1980 using an enclosure designed to imitate a river habitat. The zoo was also the first in India to breed pangolins successfully; its programme began in the nocturnal centre.