A wildlife charity has launched a search for an orangutan after she went missing from Phuket Zoo ahead of an official raid today.
Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) had raised concerns about Milo, a 13-year-old orangutan, when it discovered she had been housed behind bars at the zoo.
More than 5,000 people added their signatures to a campaign asking authorities to investigate whether the zoo had the legal permits to keep the orangutan, the Phuket News reported.
The Department of National Parks (DNP) and Royal Thai Police were due to raid the zoo this morning, but WFFT claims the DNP did not turn up.
Once the police officials entered the zoo, they found that Milo had disappeared, along with any traces of her.
This included photos that tourists had taken with the orangutan, as well as her listing on the Phuket zoo website.
WFFT founder Edwin Wiek says the zoo owner told him and police that he had released Milo into the Khao Phrateaw rainforest area just before they arrived.
The owner claimed he had found the 13-year-old orangutan in that rainforest just two years ago, Wiek said.
“Unnecessary to say that we do not believe this story,” the charity said.
WFFT is urging anyone with information to come forward and contact them.
The illegal trade in endangered orangutans has seen them poached from Indonesian forests for food, for the international pet trade, or even for traditional medicine.
Thailand recently returned 14 illegally smuggled orangutans found in Phuket to Borneo last November.
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