Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government constituted a five-member technical committee to oversee the care of five baby orangutans rescued from Balasore district, officials said Sunday.
The baby orangutans are at present kept at the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, they said.
The panel will assess issues related to the welfare and upkeep of the rescued animals and provide technical inputs for their proper care, an order said.
The director of Nandankanan Biological Park will be the member-convener. The members include a veterinary officer from Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens in Mysuru, a representative of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and the project coordinator of the Centre for Wildlife Health, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, it said.
The committee may also consult or co-opt experts and organisations of national and international repute whenever required, it added.
Chief Wildlife Warden and PCCF (Wildlife) PK Jha said the state’s immediate priority was to ensure the five animals, which are not native to India, receive the best possible care at Nandankanan’s hand-rearing centre.
Three caretakers and doctors are engaged round the clock to monitor the health condition of the babies, he said.
The rescued orangutans are gradually becoming familiar with their caretakers and readily accepting food from them, said Aditya Acharya, head of OUAT’s Wildlife Treatment Centre.
The caretakers are like new mothers to the baby orangutans, he said.
Acharya said the animals’ ease in interacting with the caretakers suggested they had been in contact with humans and received care previously.
A caretaker at Nandankanan’s quarantine unit said the animals were being fed milk every two hours, along with apple and banana fluids and boiled potatoes at regular intervals, as per a dietary chart prepared by experts.
The orangutans have also been provided soft toys and swings and are made to listen to music to keep them stress-free, officials said.
One of the five babies has recovered from fever, while two others have recovered from cold, they said, adding that the collection of blood samples for DNA testing has been postponed for around 10 days.
The five orangutans were rescued from Bichitrapur forest in Bhograi block of Balasore district September 8.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Police’s Special Task Force (STF) and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) have intensified their investigation into international wildlife smuggling involved in the case.
