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EDAN: The North Sumatra office of the Natural Resource Conservation has been criticized for failing to confiscate a baby orangutan kept as a pet in a luxury home.

Orangutan Information Center (OIC) founder Panut Hadisiswoyo said that the agency should have acted firmly and seized the legally protected endangered animal.

“The agency has no commitment to saving the Sumatran orangutan from extinction as evident from its reluctance to take legal action against the orangutan’s owner,” Panut said as quoted by Antara on Thursday.

Agency officers went home empty-handed Tuesday night after the baby orangutan owner refused to surrender the animal.

The owner, who reportedly bought the animal for Rp 2 million (US$200), said he was not aware it was illegal to keep the animal as a pet. — JP