by Apinya Wipatayotin for the Bangkok Post
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will return 14 orangutans to Indonesia next month.
The primates have been under the care of the department for five years since they were discovered in Phuket.
Department deputy chief Adisorn Noochdumrong said the Indonesian government submitted a letter requesting the return of the animals.
Indonesia has agreed to pay the transportation costs. A C-130 Hercules transport aircraft will fly to Thailand to pick up the orangutans on Sept 7.
Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) regulations, countries which take care of protected animals on Cites’s protected list have the right to demand compensation from the animals’ country of origin to cover the cost of feeding them.
This excerpt from a news article appeared in and is courtesy of the Bangkok Post and can be read in its entirety here.