"The three men are employees of PT CPS a palm oil plantation company in the area. Another suspect is still being sought," Chief of Criminal Unit at Kutai Timur district`s police precinct Sugeng Subagyo said here on Monday.
Sugeng said an earlier investigation indicates the slaughter took place in an area of PT CPS in Muara Calong on May 27 2011.
"One of the suspects threw a spear and hit the stomach of the Orangutan. Afterward, the other suspects killed Orangutans with a sharp knife," Sugeng said adding that after killing the Orangutans, the three suspects buried the carcasses near the area.
The alleged orangutan killings reportedly took place from 2009 to 2010 in Kutai Kartanegara District, East Kalimantan Province. Kalimantan or Borneo Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) are often considered as a pest by plantation companies operating there.
Last December 1, the police had arrested two employee of PT SRS, also a palm oil plantation company, in relation to allegedly killing Orangutans.
It is estimated that around 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans are left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia. Of the total number, about 7,300 orangutans are to be found in Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra provinces, and many others in Central, West and East Kalimantan provinces.
The Borneo orangutan and Sumatran orangutans are classified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Endangered and Critically Endangered respectively, with their population down by 91 percent since 1900. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
