Orangutan in Saudi Pet Shop

May 2005

The Exotique Pets Store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where you can buy an orangutan for US $10,000.

How a young orangutan reached a pet shop in Saudi Arabia, where he is on sale at a high price, is a question IPPL has been trying to answer since first hearing of the case.

On 28 January 2005, IPPL was tipped off about the presence of a baby orangutan in a pet shop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The infant was a male, around two years old. The salesperson said that he had sold the male orangutan's "sister" for US$10,000 and that he hoped to sell the animal for 55,000 Saudi riyals (about US$13,000).

The orangutan was being kept in a cage around five by eight feet in size with a glass window. Store visitors were able to handle him. The observer asked IPPL what could be done to rescue the baby. Clearly, buying him would only encourage the pet shop owner to obtain a replacement animal.

IPPL learned that the name of the pet shop is "Exotique Pets" and that the shop's mailing address is a post office box in Riyadh. Although many businesses in Saudi Arabia do not have street addresses, IPPL was informed that the pet shop is located on 30th Street, near the corner of Olaya Street, close to the department store called Gazaz.

Besides the orangutan, the shop was selling other endangered wildlife such as macaws and black cockatoos, as well as various monkey species.

Receiving a report of a wildlife crime in progress is rare. It presents a wonderful opportunity for animals to be confiscated, importers to be investigated, and, if a crime has taken place, for prosecution to take place.

IPPL quickly contacted the Saudi Arabian embassy in the United States, two officials of the Convention on Internation Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and several Saudi Arabian government officials.

The Director of the CITES Management Authority (MA) for Saudi Arabia bears the ultimate responsibility for enforcing international wildlife trade laws in that country. In our message to the Saudi MA, we pointed out that commercial trade in endangered species such as orangutans is specifically banned under CITES and requested that he investigate this case.

So far we have received no response from any of the people we contacted. A primate-friendly member of an Asian government has passed the information on to the CITES Standing Committee and to Interpol, the international police agency, which has a unit that investigates wildlife crime.

Stop the Saudi Arabian Orangutan Trade Protest Letters Needed Please send letters to the following officials to protest the sale of endangered primates, particularly orangutans, in Saudi Arabia. Point out that the sale of such animals is in violation of international law, particularly the CITES treaty. State the location of the pet shop, as given above, and request that the case be investigated, ask that action be taken against the pet store owners to prevent further illegal animal trade. You may also want to express your hope that the orangutan be confiscated and returned to a primate sanctuary in his native habitat, either Sumatra or Borneo. Postage from the United States to Saudi Arabia is 80 cents per ounce. The Secretary General National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development P.O. Box 61681 RIYADH-11575 SAUDI ARABIA Fax: 966 (1) 441 07 97 His Excellency of Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia 30 Charles Street London W1J 5DZ UNITED KINGDOM His Excellency the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia 601 New Hampshire Avenue NW Washington, DC 20037 USA Phone: (202) 342-3800 His Excellency the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia 99 Bank Street, Suite 901 Ottawa, ON K1P 6B9 CANADA Phone: (613) 237-4100 Fax: (613) 237-0567