In a world where influencers have the power to persuade millions with a mere click, public personalities posting irresponsibly on social media can be dangerous and dilute conservation efforts. 

Recently, actor and member of parliament Nusrat Jahan shared a video on Instagram where she could be seen playing with a captive orangutan held in her arms in a zoo in Thailand. Delightful and compassionate at first glance, it is deeply problematic on many levels.

Orangutans are wild animals and ought to be cherished in the wild and are not meant to be exploited for human interaction in captive situations. Such acts represent abuse of a wild animal and abetment of cruelty to a sentient creature. 

Extensive research conducted by different organisations, including the World Animal Protection and Wildlife Conservation Research Unit of Oxford University, show hundreds of thousands of wild animals, are maltreated in tourism facilities across the world, including the one where the video was made by Jahan. orangutans are among the wild species that face this behaviour from irresponsible tourists.

Around 550,000 wild animals suffer at such establishments and an estimated 110 million people visit these places every year, the studies showed. From riding elephants to swimming with dolphins to taking selfies with tigers and great apes like chimpanzees and orangutans, wild animals are regularly exploited by the entertainment industry and are unable to live a natural, fulfilling life. 

Orangutans are found in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. Their name is derived from the Malay / Indonesian words ‘orang’ meaning person and ‘hutan’ meaning forest, implying ‘man of the forest’. There are three species of orangutans that are said to exist today – Bornean, Sumatran and, the recently categorised, Tapanuli discovered in 2017. 

All species of the great ape are critically endangered, which means they face a high probability of extinction without adequate protection. 

Orangutans are among the largest tree-dwelling mammals and can identify 200 kinds of food plants. The adult males, reaching a weight of 140 kilogrammes or more, generally spend most of their time on the treetops eating fruits, leaves and insects. They develop cheek pads, which surround their faces and make their heads look large. They can be three times heavier than the females.

Orangutans are killed for bushmeat and the babies are captured for the illegal wildlife trade and sold to circuses, unscrupulous zoos and private collectors. Birute Galdikaas, a Canadian researcher who studied orangutans extensively in the wild, wrote a classic book on them named Reflections of Eden. 

Major conservation centres of orangutans in Indonesia include Tanjung Puting National Park and Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan, Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan and Gunung Leuser National Park on the border of Aceh and North Sumatra. In Malaysia, major orangutan conservation areas include Semenggoh Wildlife Centre in Sarawak and Sepilok orangutan Sanctuary in Sandakan, Sabah.

Orangutans display signs of high intelligence and have been observed using tools in both captivity and in the wild. They are also among animal species prioritised for bestowing human rights on them for life, liberty and freedom from torture. Unfortunately, some of the primates are badly treated by zoos on account of their hybrid status, if they have been Sumatran-Bornean crosses. It is incumbent on the animal welfare and conservation community to ensure hybrid orangutans are treated humanely and respectfully.

These apes have been exploited in Thailand for boxing matches and various frivolous activities for the puerile entertainment of tourists. In 2006 and 2015, nearly 65 orangutans held in captivity were repatriated to their home country in Indonesia, following years of campaigning by activists and wildlife conservationists, who were fighting against the illegal wildlife trade that had brought these great apes overseas from their native land.

During a visit to Guwahati Zoo in Assam in December 2023, I saw two orangutans that had been rescued from wildlife traders near the Assam-Mizoram border. It was a sobering experience watching them gambolling and swinging on ropes in their enclosure, being snatched from their mothers and held far away from the country where they rightfully belonged.

Posing with captive great apes aids and abets the cruel trade of these highly intelligent creatures that are biologically very close to man. Singapore Zoo, at one point of time, offered public interaction with their great apes like chimpanzees and orangutans, with attractions like having breakfast with one of them. Ah Meng, an orangutan at Singapore Zoo, became famous for his interactions with human beings. 

With time, the zoo authorities realised that such interactions of wild animals with humans did not give the right message of wildlife protection and have now abandoned the practice in an enlightened move for a captive institution. The decision, though an afterthought, is laudable. 

Damian Aspinall, chairman of the Aspinall Foundation that operates two zoos in Great Britain, Howletts and Port Lympne in Kent, has also come out strongly against the abuse of great apes in captivity in all situations. Indeed, Damian Aspinall has gone one further step ahead in his ideology by questioning the very incarceration of great apes in captivity in any zoo, including his own. This indicates a radical shift in the mentality of the captive animal establishments that has traditionally justified the keeping of great apes in captivity for entertainment.

We come across numerous instances of wild animal abuse in captivity to entertain tourists, such as the ill treatment of captive elephants in Amer Fort in Jaipur in Rajasthan. These pachyderms, mostly ridden by foreign tourists, endure a lifetime of confinement and cruelty. Organisations like World Animal Protection have been campaigning to end the cruel interactions between tourists and captive elephants in Amer Fort and Haathi Gaon in Jaipur and to retire these majestic animals to a wildlife-friendly sanctuary.

Captive elephants in Haathi Gaon, Jaipur. Photo: Shubhobroto Ghosh / World Animal Protection

Great Apes like orangutans are struggling to survive in the wild, inter alia, because we feel the urge to cage them and then shower affection on them in captivity. Our predilections sever the bond between mother and child and bring orangutan babies in an orphaned state to places which are alien to them. 

Celebrities who interact with wild animals in their proximity may have good intentions but the ignorance of the real implications of an act is no excuse for committing a destructive and counterproductive activity. 

Jahan can use her influence to educate millions of her followers on kindness to animals and the importance of wildlife protection. In this respect, it will be appreciated by many in the wildlife conservation and animal welfare fraternity if Jahan refrains from further flippant interactions with captive wild animals and promotes their preservation in natural habitats instead.

Shubhobroto Ghosh is wildlife campaign manager, World Animal Protection, and author of the book Dreaming in Calcutta and Channel Islands. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.