Five baby orangutans found abandoned in an Indian forest have sparked concerns about the growing trade in exotic wildlife. Experts warn that a multimillion-dollar illegal market is thriving, fueled in part by wealthy individuals in India who seek exotic animals as status symbols to showcase on social media. According to Sumanth Bindumadhav of Humane World for Animals India, there have been numerous reports of exotic animals being found or seized across the country, with the scale of the trade described as "massive." The discovery of the orangutans, which are critically endangered and native to Indonesia, highlights the increasing movement of such animals across borders. The five young orangutans, about 1½ years old, were found by rangers in Balasore, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. They are now being cared for at a local zoo, and Indonesia has formally requested their return. According to a report from Bindumadhav’s organization in June 2026, the trade in exotic wildlife has been rising sharply, with a significant increase in seizures in recent years. The report estimated that India’s exotic pet market reached $42.6 million in 2024, with orangutans and gibbons being increasingly trafficked from Southeast Asian rainforests. A senior official at India's Wildlife Crime Control Bureau said that thousands of social media influencers are promoting exotic animals as pets, driving demand among their followers. The official, who requested anonymity, noted that wealthy individuals often keep these animals in their homes. While a government voluntary disclosure scheme recorded over 40,000 people registering exotic animals by February 2021, analysts believe this number is only a small fraction of the actual number of such animals in private possession. Former head of the global anti-wildlife-trade group TRAFFIC, Shekhar Kumar Niraj, highlighted that the surge in trafficking is also linked to the increasing number of animals kept in private collections. He pointed out that private zoos have frequently violated laws, with primates being particularly popular due to their intelligence and interactive behavior. In 2022, the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) documented 56 seizures involving around 4,000 exotic animals. More recently, Mumbai customs officers arrested a passenger carrying two endangered gibbons in a checked bag, while other seizures in the city included lizards, tree-climbing possums, and venomous vipers. In 2024, forest officials recovered a trafficked orangutan from a flat in Maharashtra state. Experts emphasize that these seizures represent only a small portion of the overall trade. Jimmy Borah of the environmental group Aaranyak noted that the true scale of trafficking is likely much larger than what is revealed by seizure data. Authorities have also raised concerns about Vantara, a wildlife rescue and conservation center in Gujarat, founded by Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Vantara has denied any wrongdoing and has taken steps to restructure its operations, including withdrawing applications to import live animals and appointing former CITES head John Scanlon to lead its governing council. The exact route by which the orangutans reached Odisha remains unclear, but police have launched an investigation. Experts suggest that in addition to airports and formal cargo routes, the land border between Myanmar and India’s northeast plays a key role in wildlife trafficking. Dipankar Ghose of WWF-India noted that this region is a hotspot for the seizure of live exotic animals, linked to cross-border movement from Southeast Asia. Borah of Aaranyak described the border as "miles and miles of a very porous frontier," emphasizing the challenges in controlling such illicit trade.