The orangutans were found abandoned in a casuarina plantation in the Udayapur-Talsari forest area of 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 of Balasore district.The orangutans, which are not native to India, were found in the Udayapur section of the Jaleswar Range during routine patrolling, said Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) Prakash Chand Gogineni. “We have rescued all of them. Of the five, three are male, and two are female,” Mr. Gogineni said.The orangutans, aged between six months and one year, have been shifted 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 to be a botched-up transit operation. The orangutans were apparently brought here and subsequently abandoned in the casuarina forest in Balasore,” Mr. Gogineni said.The Forest Department is yet to ascertain where the animals were brought from. “We have no idea from which part of the Odisha coast these orangutans were offloaded. We will register a case under the Wildlife Protection Act, and the investigation will proceed accordingly,” he said.
