Five young orangutans rescued from Odisha’s Balasore district

The Odisha Forest Department on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) rescued five young orangutans after they were found abandoned in a casuarina plantation in the Udayapur-Talsari forest area in Balasore district.

The orangutans, which are not native to India, were spotted in the Udayapura area of ​​the Jaleswar range during routine patrolling, said Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) Prakash Chand Gogineni. “We rescued them all. Of the five, three were men and two were women,” Mr Gogineni said.

The orangutans, aged between six months and one year, were brought to Nandankanan Zoological Park for medical examination. “They do not appear to have sustained any injuries, but we have sent them to Nandankanan for further medical examination,” he said.

Orangutans are naturally found in the forests of Indonesia and Malaysia and are not native to India. “It appears this is a transit operation gone wrong. The orangutans were apparently brought here and then abandoned in the casuarina forest in Balasore,” Mr Gogineni said.

The forest department is yet to find out where the animals were brought from. “We have no idea from which part of the Odisha coast these orangutans were landed. We will register a case under the Wildlife Protection Act and the investigation will continue accordingly,” he said.

The orangutans were found abandoned in a casuarina plantation in the Udayapur-Talsari forest area in Balasore district of Odisha.

“A separate team has been deployed in the Badapai-Ranakata area to collect detailed information about how the orangutans reached the site and identify persons who may have been involved. The case is under active investigation,” Odisha Forest and Environment Minister Ganesh Ram Singhuntia said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Forests and Wildlife has alerted its coastal units and instructed them to look for other orangutans that may have been abandoned in the area.

The rescue attracted significant public attention, with hundreds of local residents gathering in the morning to catch a glimpse of the young animals.

The Nandankanan Zoological Park used to be home to an orangutan. In 2019, 41-year-old female orangutan Bini died from age-related and related diseases. Bini, an endangered species of great ape, was brought to Nandankanan from Pune Zoo on November 20, 2003.

Sources in the Forest Department said that while the discovery of orangutans outside their natural habitat is certainly a matter of concern, their arrival could potentially have a big impact on Nandankanan. “The decision on whether orangutans will be kept in captivity for public viewing will be taken by the Center and state authorities,” the official said.