Animal park under fire for orangutan boxing

..and i thought it was gonna be something about animal rights...ha

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BANGKOK, Thailand - The fur is flying in Thailand over claims from conservationists that a troupe of more than 100 kick-boxing orangutans at a Bangkok animal park are victims of a smuggling racket from nearby Indonesia.

Forestry officials from Jakarta say Safari World is involved in Indonesia’s biggest ever case of orangutan smuggling, even though the zoo insists all its animals were acquired through the proper channels, or bred in captivity.

Indonesia wants DNA tests to determine the apes’ origin — and then wants them back. Meanwhile, some of the highly endangered animals have mysteriously started to disappear.

Orangutans, used to range from southern China through Southeast Asia, and probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands, according to the Orangutan Foundation International. Today, their range is limited to Indonesia and their numbers are estimated at between 15,000 and 25,000. Illegal logging, mining, farming, and forest fires have altered or destroyed most of their rainforest habitat, the foundation says.

'Monkey boxing' shows on hold

With Thailand keen to present a green image in the run-up to a hosting a major endangered species meeting in October, police have been ordered to get to the bottom of all the monkey business.

The show, in which orangutans dressed in silky boxing shorts and bright red gloves pretend to slug it out to the delight of the audience, is on hold while police investigate.

“The monkey boxing shows have been ordered to stop because they are evidence in the lawsuit,” said Chatchai Thammavichai of Thailand's forestry police.

Safari World officials would also be hauled in for questioning later in the week to explain why they originally declared 115 orangutans to police, while a search of the park by wildlife officers uncovered only 69, he said.

Wild orangutans are now only found in the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia and conservationists are confident DNA tests will reveal if any animal was born in the wild, and allow them to pinpoint its place of birth to within a few hundred miles.

“From the genetic testing, we will absolutely 100 percent be able to prove that these orangutans cannot have been bred in Safari World, that this is a lie,” said Willie Smits, head of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, and part of an official Indonesian delegation to visit the zoo last week.

Zoo has 'nothing to confess'

Safari World’s owners deny any wrongdoing and insist their orangutans are the result of a successful breeding program, even though conservationists say that's impossible given the numbers and ages of the apes involved.

“I don’t have anything to do with smuggling,” managing director Pin Kewkacha was quoted as saying in the Bangkok Post. “I have nothing to confess.”

Indonesian diplomats have also jumped to the defense of what is a national icon, urging speedy resolution of the spat.

“As long as they have been proven to come from Indonesia, the Indonesian delegation requests that they go back to Indonesia,” an embassy spokesman said.

taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5600669/?GT1=4529

arghh.

i hope the troup of orangutan will finally get sick of it and start hypercutting all these fuckers about.

animal rights? what's that?

there are better things to do with money then do DNA tests on monkeys.

Ye Entrancemperium

Ye Entrancemperium

Assholes.