JAKARTA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Personnel of the Indonesian Conservation Agency have saved one baby orangutan, and recovered one dead Sumatran tiger.

The baby orangutan (pongo pygmaeus), which has been illegally kept as a pet by a resident in West Kalimantan province's Ketapang district, was seized by the personnel of the Wild Animal Rescue Unit of the Provincial Natural Resources Conservation Agency, said Tantyo Bangun, head of the International Animal Rescue (IAR) Indonesia.

"The animal was chained by its owner in a house," he said in a statement received by local media on Wednesday.

A veterinarian who checked the condition of the 2.5-year-old baby orangutan found a lump, believed to be caused by an injury, on its right thigh, Bangun disclosed.

The animal also has a skin disease which makes part of the hairs on its foot and back fall out, according to him.

For a further treatment, the baby orangutan was sent to the animal care center in the district to undergo a quarantine and a medical checkup, said Bangun, adding that the animal would be released to the forest when its health condition is certainly good and free from any disease.

Sadtata Noor Adirahmanta, head of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of West Kalimantan Province, warned that illegally keeping wild animals as pets could change their behaviors.

Separately in Riau province, Heru Sukmantoro, head of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency Region II of Riau Province, on Wednesday admitted that a Sumatran tiger (panther tigris sumatrae) aged eight to nine years old has been found dead after being snared in Siak district.

The official predicted that the animal had died about 10 days ago. Enditem

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