Baby orangutans in India expose illegal wildlife trade as experts question a billionaire’s zoo

Five baby orangutans were found by villagers in a casuarina forest in Odisha, India, in early September and were left on a nearby plantation more than 2,700 kilometers from their native rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra, underscoring the illicit trade in non-native primates. The infants—three males and two females, aged six to eight months—are now at an Indian zoo, where keepers have reportedly played classical music to soothe them. Orangutans are native only to Borneo and Sumatra and are listed as critically endangered; wild populations are threatened by habitat loss. Conservationists say the discovery highlights a booming global trade in exotic animals, with India emerging as an important market for trafficked primates; seizures often represent only a fraction of the overall trade. Indian wildlife laws were designed mainly to protect native species and do not always account for imported animals, creating loopholes that complicate tracing origins. CITES records show India imported 41 orangutans between 2021 and 2024. Earlier cases in India included two juvenile Sumatran orangutans found in boxes at a checkpoint between Assam and Mizoram in 2022, another rescued in Mizoram in 2023, and a young orangutan found near Mumbai in 2024. Experts warn that wealthy collectors and expanding air routes are fueling demand, while gaps in enforcement raise concerns about provenance and captivity exemptions.