Wildlife conservationists are calling for Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Saudi Arabia to be slapped with sanctions following their failure to act against the smuggling of orangutans into their borders.

Coordinator of the 'Born to be Wild' campaign Sean Whyte said this was only appropriate in light of the threat to survival faced by orangutans and the refusal of the countries to satisfy their international obligations.

"The smuggling of highly endangered orangutans is an appalling activity. Any country which condones this trade deserves to have sanctions brought against it by (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - Cites)," Whyte said in a statement.

According to the release, broadcaster David Attenborough and conservationist Dr Richard Leakey have joined forces with 40 conservation groups to call on Cites' Geneva-based secretariat to impose sanctions on the four countries.

It is not known what kind of sanctions exactly are sought against Malaysia and the other countries.

Undocumented primates

Last December, six orangutans were repatriated to Indonesia after it was verified by DNA tests that they were of the endangered Sumatran species ( Pongo pygmaeus abelii ).

Trade in the animals are strictly limited by Cites, which Malaysia ratified in 1978, to conservation or research purposes. Indonesia has stopped their export since 2000

Despite promises by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, the status of investigations into how the orangutans ended up in a Malacca-based resort has yet to be made known.

A seventh Sumatran orangutan remains in a zoo in Johore awaiting the processing of documents for its return journey to Indonesia.

Investigations were to have been completed by the end of January. When contacted recently, however, a ministry spokesperson said there had been no headway in efforts to identify the smugglers.

Numerous calls to the Wildlife Department's law and enforcement division have not yielded any response.

Commenting on the impasse, Traffic Southeast Asia's regional programme officer Chris R Shepherd said his organisation commends the authorities for seizing the orangutans and returning them to Sumatra.

"However, we also encourage the authorities to press charges against people smuggling orangutans and anyone else involved in wildlife smuggling," he said when contacted.

"Those who buy these species are supporting illegal trade and contributing to the decline of the wild populations of these species," he added.

An estimated 7,500 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild today.