It took nearly a century to happen but the law that promised to protect orangutans in Sumatra has finally found some teeth.

An illegal wildlife trader in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia has been sentenced to seven-months in jail for owning and selling orangutans.

Since 1924, when the Indonesian law was written, there have only been three traders sentenced for this type of crime, and this is the first occurrence in Sumatra.

The case began with the confiscation of a young male orangutan named Julius last July in Mardinding, in the province of North Sumatra. The unnamed trader was trying to sell the three-year-old orangutan.

A surprise raid by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry’s Directorate-General for Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHKA), working in conjunction with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Wildlife Crime Unit and the veterinarian and staff of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), resulted in the arrest.

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