The endangered apes had been used in controversial orangutan kickboxing shows at Bangkok's Safari World, which is at the centre of an inquiry over claims it smuggled the animals from Borneo or Indonesia's Sumatra island.

The fights have now halted, DNA tests have begun and the zoo's owner has been charged over illegally importing the orangutans, but after an 11-month Thai investigation there is still no word on the fate of the apes.

"The government of Indonesia has appealed to the Thai government in trying to repatriate the orangutans still in Thailand," Indonesian Ministry of Forestry official Widodo Ramono told reporters on the sidelines of a global conference on the wildlife trade in Bangkok.

Ramono visited Safari World earlier this year, along with experts who collected hair samples of and photographed the animals, and said most of the young orangutans there were "almost surely" from Kalimantan, the Indonesian area of Borneo.

About 1,000 orangutans are smuggled out of Indonesia each year, including 300 or more through Thailand, according to Edwin Wiek, director of Wildlife Friends of Thailand.

"It is time for justice to be served and the orangutans to be allowed to go home," Wiek said, adding that it was impossible for Safari World's seven adult females to have given birth to more than about 14 of the 101 young orangutans in the time since the babies appeared at the zoo.

He said the investigation had been hindered because Thai officials were allegedly grappling with powerful forces inside and outside of the government who are intent on blocking the repatriation.

WWF has claimed fewer than 30,000 orangutans remain in the world and the species could become extinct in as little as 20 years if the decline continues.

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