Illegal wildlife trade and hunting is a serious issue in Indonesia as human resources and funding are inadequate to monitor the wildlife trade and enforce existing protection laws. Species that are already endangered because of habitat loss and degradation are especially at danger. Several studies have shown that 200-500 orang-utans from Indonesian Borneo alone enter the pet trade each year, with each orang-utan fetching several hundred dollars in city markets on nearby islands. This possess a real threat to wild orang-utan populations as orang-utans have a very low reproductive rate.
Baby orangutan rescued from illegal pet trade in Sumatra. Source: orang-utans-sos.org
To view a video on baby orang-utan being rescued from poachers, please refer to this link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZIF6Bo0NwA