Baby orangutan was chained to a wall for YEAR and made to entertain a family after he was captured by hunters and now hugs himself to sleep

These heartbreaking pictures show how a baby orangutan was chained up for year as entertainment for a family.

Orphaned Mingky was wandering alone through remote woodland when he was captured by hunters last year.

The poachers gave him to a friend who tethered him by the neck to a bolt on a wall down a narrow two-feet-wide crumbling alleyway between two homes.

These heartbreaking pictures show how a baby orangutan was chained up for year as entertainment for a family

Orphaned Mingky was wandering alone through remote woodland when he was captured by hunters last year

He occasionally wheeled out the poor primate to entertain children at family gatherings.

Horrified rescuers found the depressed orangutan hugging himself to sleep and freed him earlier this month.

Panut Hadisiswoyo, from the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia, said: 'The man who was holding Mingky captive said he wanted him to be chained in his premises as entertainment for his family.

'He'd feed him bits of fruit and sometimes rice. But it was no life for Mingky.

'Through our intelligence network, we discovered the orangutan illegally held in a house in a rural area near Blang Pidie city, Aceh Barat Daya.

'He was chained to a wall between two houses and we estimated that he was around three years old.'

Horrified rescuers found the depressed orangutan hugging himself to sleep and freed him earlier this month

The animal welfare group said Mingky's captor occasionally wheeled out the poor primate to entertain children at family gatherings

The animal welfare group contacted the local police who helped to remove Mingky.

The orangutan was 'terrified' of being touched, became aggressive and had to be tranquilised.

It is illegal to capture orangutans from the wild but the man was not prosecuted as he said his friend had given the creature to him.

Mingky is now being kept at the group's sanctuary and being nursed back to health before being released into the wild.

It is illegal to capture orangutans from the wild but the man was not prosecuted as he said his friend had given the creature to him

Mingky is now being kept at the group's sanctuary and being nursed back to health before being released into the wild

Panut added: 'The orangutan would have been suffering forever but luckily our team discovered him.

'He is now in safe hands. Our team is a lifeline for many orangutans in Sumatra.

'It is extremely important that our team is able to continue to be in the field monitoring conflict situations and/or isolated forest patches containing orangutans, so that these smaller but still vital populations are not lost.

'There is no prosecution for the owner as the police believed that the owner received the orangutan from his friend and thus he was willing to surrender the orangutan.' 

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Source :  dailymail.co.uk