Five infant orangutans have been discovered in a forest in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, sparking an investigation into how the critically endangered apes ended up thousands of kilometres from their natural habitat. Orangutans are not native to India and exist in the wild only in Indonesia and Malaysia, so their presence has raised suspicions of international wildlife trafficking, with authorities examining whether the animals were smuggled in and abandoned near a highway.

The apes were found on Tuesday in Balasore district, near the West Bengal border, after locals alerted forest officials; they were given first aid and taken to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, where they remain in quarantine. Officials believe the orangutans had only been in the area two or three days, and no adult animals or further clues were found nearby. Experts note the young apes' age is especially worrying, as orangutans normally stay with their mothers for years and breed only once every eight years. India's Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been asked to investigate, and a similar case occurred in 2022 when two baby orangutans were found abandoned near the Assam-Mizoram border, reportedly smuggled via Myanmar.