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Sumatran Orang utan female swinging through the trees © naturepl.com / Anup Shah / WWF

Sumatran apes in trade

Sumatran Orang utan female swinging through the trees © naturepl.com / Anup Shah / WWF

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Published 16 April 2009

  English 

Illegal trade devastates Sumatran orang-utan population

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Lack of law enforcement against illegal trade in Indonesia threatens the survival of orang-utans and gibbons on Sumatra, a new study by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC shows.

An assessment of trade in gibbons and orang-utans in Sumatra, Indonesia

Report author(s):
Vincent Nijman

Publication date:
April 2009


Notes:

An assessment of trade in gibbons and orang-utans in Sumatra, Indonesia is the first TRAFFIC report to examine the trade in apes in Sumatra. It was funded by WWF Netherlands and follows earlier reports published in 2005 into such trade in Kalimantan: Hanging in the balance: An assessment of trade in orang-utans and gibbons on Kalimantan, Indonesia (PDF, 600 KB) and in Java and Bali: In full swing: An assessment of trade in orang-utans and gibbons on Java and Bali, Indonesia (PDF, 1.2 MB). 

Under national legislation, penalties for illegally possessing orang-utans include a fine of up to IDR100 000 000 (USD9000) and imprisonment for up to five years. 

In July 2007, the Supreme Court of Indonesia hosted the country’s first national “Judiciary Workshop on Wildlife Crime and Prosecution” as part of a government commitment to step up its fight against organized poaching and trafficking of wild animals and plants.