Whyte says the park authorities have been tight-lipped on the outcome of the DNA check. This is not true, as they already may have concluded that the orangutans were all from different strings of DNA and were not born in captivity. At this moment, only two countries can claim origin, namely Indonesia and Malaysia. Neither one of these countries has claimed ownership.

The Thai authorities have told us they are willing to send the orangutans home as soon as possible. He stated that the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), who take care of the animals, lack enthusiasm to send the orangutans back home.

The confiscation of these orangutans is actually as a direct result of a WFFT complaint to the Department of National Parks. During talks with Thai officials, I have been made aware of talks and have seen documents of correspondence between Thailand's and Indonesian CITES offices on the matter, who are slowly, to say the least, working on a solution.

We, as an NGO, would like to see more speed in this discussion, just as Whyte does; however, we have no authority to push for this. Therefore, Whyte blaming us for being part of the problem is baseless. There are no logical grounds for this unreasonable slander by Whyte; it is therefore difficult to understand this could be part of any solution.

I would ask for your attention on the point of wholly blaming Thailand for the illegal trade in orangutans. Thailand is only one of the many customers for orangutans and other wildlife poached and smuggled out of the jungles in Indonesia by Indonesian poachers and Indonesian animal traders.

The WFFT is actively engaged in upgrading one of the Indonesian wildlife rescue centers for the benefit of confiscated wildlife throughout Indonesia and the WFFT sees this as a long-term commitment.

Edwin Wiek
Bangkok

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