Pet trade puts orangutans at risk 宠物交易使星星处于危险之中

The trade in Sumatran orangutans for pets shows little sign of decline and is taking the species to the brink¹ of extinction², a report concludes.

一份报告称，苏门答腊猩猩的交易量不见下降，使这一物种处于消失的边缘。

Orangutans sometimes need time in cages before release to the wild

Compiled（编译的） by Traffic, the international wildlife trade monitoring network, it suggests that more orangutans are being traded than in previous decades.

The species is listed as critically endangered, with only about 7,000 left.

Traffic says Indonesian authorities need to pursue prosecutions³（实行，经营，起诉） and heavy penalties against illegal traders.

The Sumatran orangutan is protected under national laws and international conventions.

But Traffic says the authorities rarely prosecute⁴; and when they do, penalties are mild.

"There is no deterrent⁵（制止，防止，挽留） for those committing these crimes if they go unpunished," said Chris Shepherd, acting⁶ director of Traffic in Southeast Asia.

"Indonesia has adequate（足够的，充足的） laws; but without serious penalties, this illegal trade will continue and these species will continue to spiral（成螺旋状下降） towards extinction."

 Several species of gibbon are also affected⁷ by the pet trade

Pet rescue

The organisation⁸ surveyed orangutans, gibbons（长臂猿） and other primates⁹（灵长目） in zoos, markets and rehabilitation¹⁰（复原，康复） centres around Sumatra.

Market traders told investigators¹¹ that they could procure¹²（获得，取得） orangutans, as well as other threatened species such as Sun bears and tigers.

But the most compelling（强制的，引人注目的） evidence came from rehabilitation centres, which exist to help orangutans and gibbons that have been kept as pets since infancy¹³ adapt back to life in the wild.

In the period 2002-2008, centres were "rescuing" about 20 orangutans unwanted by their owners each year.

In the previous decades, it had been on average about half of that number.

Although other factors could explain the difference - a new centre opening, and perhaps new staff keener（哭丧女） to take the former pets into their care - it could be that the number of animals being traded has risen, even as wild populations have shrunk（收缩，下降）.

About half of the animals entered the rehabilitation process when they were under four years of age, well before reaching maturity¹⁴, indicating that they had been procured¹⁵ as babies - a process that almost always involves killing¹⁶ the mother.

The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) is more threatened than the other species, which hails from Borneo.

In the 1990s, forest supporting about 1,000 of the apes（猿） was cleared each year. The overall population has shrunk by 80% in 75 years, largely because of deforestation（森林采伐）, abetted¹⁷（唆使，鼓动） by the pet trade.

Subsequently, civil hostilities¹⁸ in Aceh province at the northern end of Sumatra curbed¹⁹（抑制，束缚） the timber（木材，木料） trade; but the 2005 peace accord and the new interest in palm oil are putting fresh pressure on the forests, and so on the orangutans.

Last year, the national government and the island's 10 provincial²⁰ authorities pledged to halt the loss of forests and native species, and to make development sustainable（养得起的，可以忍受的）.

Traffic is a joint²¹ initiative（创始的，初步的） of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which numbers many governments among its members, and the conservation charity（慈善机关） WWF.