30/03/2013 (Jakarta Globe) - Two orangutans that were being illegally kept at an Aceh residence were seized by conservation officials to be released back into the wild, the head of an orangutan advocacy group announced Thursday night.

Ian Singleton, the director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, said that the orangutans, a male and a female, were found in the village of Simpang Dua, Nagan Raya district, on Tuesday.

The SOCP suspected that the primates were from the Rawa Tripa peatland region, a lush area on the coast of Aceh which has suffered due to the creation of palm oil plantations.

“We have seen this type of case so many times in Rawa Tripa,” Singleton told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

He said that the plantations destroyed the orangutans’ natural habitat and decimated their food sources.

“Under such conditions, the orangutans can’t find sufficient amounts of food, so they starve to death. Sometimes, they are even murdered by locals or plantation workers,” he said.

The orangutans rescued in Simpang Dua have been brought to the SOCP’s quarantine facility in Medan, North Sumatra, to be treated. They will be observed for several months to make sure they don’t have any medical problems.

“One of the orangutans is underweight, but he eats very well, so we expect it won’t be too long before he returns to his normal weight,” Ikhsan, a senior veterinarian, told the Globe.

After they recover, Singleton said that the orangutans will be rehabilitated and brought to the SOCP’s orangutan reintroduction center in Jantho, Aceh Besar district.

The SOCP has released more than 180 orangutans to its nature preserves in Jambi and Jantho.