Five baby orangutans discovered in a forest in eastern India have highlighted the growing illegal trade in exotic animals, while conservationists are raising concerns over the acquisition of rare wildlife by a zoo owned by the family of billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
Villagers initially spotted the five infants in a casuarina forest in India's Odisha state in early September. Their reddish hair and unfamiliar appearance left the residents puzzled.
The three males and two females, aged between six and eight months, had been abandoned on a plantation more than 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles) from their natural habitats in Borneo and Sumatra, indicating the movement of trafficked primates into India.
The orangutans are now being cared for at an Indian zoo, where keepers have reportedly played classical music to calm them.
Wild orangutans are native only to Borneo and Sumatra, where they help maintain rainforest ecosystems by dispersing seeds over large areas. This supports forest regeneration and carbon storage, helping limit global warming.
The species is critically endangered because of extensive habitat loss. Around 119,500 orangutans remain in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
A 2026 study by researchers at the National University of Singapore estimated that the global illegal wildlife trade generates $34 billion annually. India is emerging as a significant market, with experts warning that reported seizures represent only a small portion of the growing trade in exotic animals sought by wealthy collectors.
India's wildlife laws were primarily developed to protect native species, including elephants, rhinoceroses and tigers, from international trafficking. However, weaknesses in regulations governing imported animals have made it difficult to establish the origins of exotic wildlife.
In 2022, two young Sumatran orangutans were discovered in boxes at a checkpoint between India's northeastern states of Assam and Mizoram. Another was rescued in Mizoram in 2023, while a young orangutan was found in an apartment near Mumbai in November 2024.
An analysis by the nonprofit Wildlife Trust of India found that at least 23 gibbons were seized at Indian airports in 2025. In May 2026, Egyptian authorities intercepted three sedated baby chimpanzees being transported to India.
"India has become the number one destination for the live trade of primates," said Sinan Serhadli, a wildlife trafficking expert at the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia's North Sumatra province.
Wealthy collectors fuel exotic animal trade
Uttara Mendiratta, an Indian researcher specialising in wildlife trafficking, said affluent collectors were driving demand for rare animals, which are often treated as status symbols.
Southeast Asia has become a major transit hub for wildlife originating from different regions, she said.
The expansion of tourism has increased direct flights to India through cities such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, creating faster routes for traffickers, although air travel also carries risks compared with land crossings.
"The profit margins are so high that they can afford to lose a few (animals) and still make a profit," Mendiratta said.
Concerns also extend to the legal wildlife trade. Although most commercial trade in orangutans is prohibited, exceptions are allowed for animals bred in captivity.
According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), India imported 41 orangutans between 2021 and 2024.
Serhadli questioned whether the animals had genuinely been bred in captivity.
"It just shows the loopholes corruption as well," he said.
The CITES Secretariat declined to comment, saying the matter was under review.
Gaps in Indian wildlife regulations
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, India introduced a system allowing people to register exotic animals without providing proof of their origins, amid concerns about diseases spreading from animals to humans.
Owners can report births, deaths and breeding of non-native species through an online portal. However, Mendiratta said the government lacked sufficient personnel and expertise to inspect animal collections and identify species accurately.
The system also creates opportunities for trafficked animals to be falsely presented as legally registered, she said.
India strengthened its wildlife laws in 2022, giving authorities clearer powers to seize illegally traded exotic animals and prosecute traffickers. However, Mendiratta said the trade had already expanded significantly by that time.
A 2026 report by Humane World for Animals India described the country's exotic pet trade as operating at the intersection of biodiversity loss, unchecked consumer demand and organised criminal activity.
India's forest ministry did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Indonesia seeks return of baby orangutans
Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry said it was taking "active steps" to repatriate the five baby orangutans found in Odisha.
The ministry has sent experts to investigate their origins and assess their health.
Conservationists believe the infants' mothers were likely killed, leaving the young animals traumatised. Orangutans normally depend on their mothers for as long as nine years.
Although conservation efforts have successfully returned orangutans from Thailand to Indonesia, only one has so far been repatriated from India.
Questions have also emerged over the handling of an orangutan transferred last year to Vantara, a private wildlife facility operated by the family of Ambani.
A report written by a federal wildlife official in New Delhi said India's federal wildlife authorities and its CITES authority were not informed when the animal was transferred to the facility.
Officials had ordered the transfer after expressing concerns about its care at a local public zoo. Vantara describes itself as a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre.
The orangutan received treatment for a respiratory infection and pneumonia before returning to Indonesia on Oct. 19, following 19 months at the private facility.
India's CITES authority did not respond to a request for comment.
Questions over rare orangutan at billionaire's facility
Vantara, a 3,500-acre wildlife facility in western India, houses more than 150,000 animals representing over 2,000 species.
The facility has faced international scrutiny over its acquisition of wildlife.
In November 2025, CITES raised questions about shipments to Vantara that included snow leopards from Germany, a bonobo reportedly bred in Iraq and a gorilla said to have come from Haiti. The primates are not native to those countries.
India's Supreme Court cleared Vantara of allegations of wildlife trafficking and animal mistreatment in 2025.
In September, 27 wildlife conservation and animal welfare organisations sent a letter urging the facility to stop importing wild animals, citing concerns over endangered species and animal welfare.
The organisations said they had "never encountered anything comparable to the scale and diversity" of Vantara's imports, pointing to more than 60,000 animals acquired over a short period.
One particularly controversial animal listed in Vantara's 2024-25 inventory is a Tapanuli orangutan, considered the world's rarest great ape.
Recognised as a distinct species only in 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan is found exclusively in a small area of Indonesia's Sumatra island. Only 716 are estimated to remain in the wild.
"The Tapanuli orangutan is hovering just above extinction," Serhadli said. His organisation is among the few working with the species.
The animal at Vantara would be the only Tapanuli orangutan in captivity.
CITES trade records show that the animal left Indonesia in 2024 and reached India through the United Arab Emirates.
"That can't happen legally," Serhadli said.
Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry said it was taking reports that a Tapanuli orangutan might be outside the country seriously. However, it said it could not confirm the animal's species, origin or the circumstances under which it arrived in India.
The ministry said an investigation would require examining permits and transfer records, alongside scientific testing, to establish the animal's identity and history.