Safari World, Phuket FantaSea could close this week
Lop Buri monkeys get hot under the collar
Elephant art to set record
Deadly virus found in wild birds once again
Mahouts, tigers swap for African animals
Wildlife protection events
Safari Park owner to face charges
Wildlife exchange deal agreed with Kenya
Greenie see, greenie do
Couple takes a marriage lesson from gibbons
Disease control effort hurting wild animals
BUAV: Adopt an ex-laboratory monkey
Lab glitch delays DNA test results
Another 60 tigers under bird flu watch
Virus kills 23 tigers at private zoo
2004 CITES ARCHIVES
'Noah's Ark' of 5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of China
· Cargo of abandoned vessel destined for restaurants
· Illegal trade drives species closer to extinction
Saturday May 26, 2007
Guardian
Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.
According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.
The animals were found when local fishermen noticed a strange smell emanating from the vessel, which did not have any registration plates, on Tuesday, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
When coastguard officials boarded the 25-metre craft, it was reportedly deserted and stripped of identification papers. They found more than 200 crates full of animals, many so dehydrated in the tropical sun that they were close to death.
The animals - which weighed 13 tonnes - were taken to port, doused with water and sent to an animal welfare centre. "We have received some animals," said an office worker at the Guangdong Wild Animal Protection Centre. "We are waiting to hear from the authorities what we should do with them."
According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle.
All of these south-east Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine.
The accidental discovery highlights the negative impact that the growing power of Chinese consumption is having on global conservation efforts.
According to wildlife groups, China is the main market for illegally traded exotic species, which are eaten or used in traditional medicine. Pangolins are in great demand because their meat is consider a delicacy and their scales are thought to help mothers breastfeed their babies.
As a result of demand, the pangolin populations of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been wiped out. With traders moving further and further south, the animal is declining even in its last habitats in Java, Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. It is a similar story for many species of turtle, tortoise, frog and snake.
Despite China's international commitments to get to grips with this illicit activity, the trade is booming. Border controls are lax, and smugglers know that fines are usually far lower than the potential rewards. As a result, raids and seizures of banned products occur regularly. One recent raid on a restaurant in Guanghzou turned up 118 pangolins, 60kg of snakes and 400kg of toads.
Traffic - an organisation that monitors and tries to prevent the smuggling of endangered species - welcomed the fact that China's authorities had reacted swiftly to rescue the animals but said much more needs to be done to prevent similar cases.
"Unfortunately, this is all too common. This trade is a far bigger threat to these species than habitat destruction," said Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with Traffic Southeast Asia. "The vigilance on the border has to be improved, cooperation with source countries needs to be strengthened, there should be better monitoring of dealers, and the people violating the laws must be penalised severely."
Despite the ban on pangolins, many restaurants offer their meat. The Chaoxing restaurant in Shenzhen said yesterday that pangolin was available but was only suitable for large dining parties.
"The animal is very big - about 10kg," said a waitress contacted by telephone. "We serve it in hotpot. That is the tastiest way."
According to recent reports in the Chinese media, the price of 1kg of pangolin served in Guangdong or Yunnan is between 600 and 800 yuan per kilogram (between £43 and £50).
A Guangdong chef interviewed last year in the Beijing Science and Technology Daily described how to cook a pangolin.
"We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually the customers take the blood home with them afterwards."Animal rescue centers join to save Indonesian wildlife
Slamet Susanto and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta, Malang
Two of the world's largest animal rescue centers have joined forces to save endangered species, especially those from Indonesia, by returning them to their natural habitat.
The agreement has just been reached by Eindhoven-based Pepegaaien Centrum NOP from the Netherlands, the world's largest animal rescue center, and the Sukabumi-based Cikananga Animal Rescue Center (PPSC) from Indonesia, the world's second largest.
Tony Van Meegen of Papegaaien Centrum NOP, said during a recent visit to Yogyakarta that returning the endangered animals to their natural habitats was not an easy job as it required special handling and sizable funds.
"We once tried to return several animals to their places of origin, but was it was not possible simply due to the absence of funds. So it is difficult to return animals, found in any smuggling attempts, to their home countries," Tony said.
In order to solve the problem Pepegaaien Centrum NOP cooperated with PPSC Sukabumi to help send the confiscated animals back into their natural habitat.
Papegaaien Centrum NOP currently has at least 4,500 endangered animals in its 22-hectare center, of which 1,500 are from Indonesia, while PPSC has over 1,000 animals. All the animals at the two centers consist of those confiscated during smuggling attempts or others voluntarily handed over by their owners.
Resit Sozer, coordinator of the animal distribution network of the Indonesian Animal Rescue Center, warmly hailed the cooperation between Papegaaien Centrum NOP and PPSC because Indonesia is badly in need of assistance to protect and rescue endangered animals.
Returning animals confiscated during smuggling attempts to their natural habitat has little precedent. In Indonesia, it only happened once, namely two years ago when the Croatian government reported a foiled smuggling attempt of 33 lizards from Indonesia, Resit said.
Under the agreement, Papegaaien Centrum will help collect funds to finance the sending of the animals currently being temporarily accommodated in a number of European countries, like the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and France.
There are three other animal rescue centers in the Netherlands, which are also committed to sending animals from Indonesian back to their habitat, Tony said.
Meanwhile in Malang, East Java, Asep Rohmat Purnama, head of ProFauna Indonesia, said recently that the Indonesian government had asked the Thai government to postpone its plan to return 41 orangutans it had confiscated due to the current forest fires and chocking haze in Kalimantan and Sumatra.
Asep said that he was informed about the request through a letter sent by the directorate general of forest protection and animal conservation of the Forestry Ministry.
"The letter was a request for a delay in the sending of the 41 orangutans to Indonesia due to forest fires and haze," he said.
ProFauna and five other non-governmental organizations dealing with wildlife protection had previously expressed fear that the new Thai government would use the forest fires and haze as reason to delay the sending of the 41 orangutans to Indonesia.
But as it was the request of the Indonesian government itself, it was acceptable, Asep said. Now it is the duty of the Indonesian government to settle the problem of the forest fires and haze to ensure the orangutans have a safe habitat, he said.
The Indonesian orangutans were discovered in Thailand in 2003 after an investigation by environmental groups. DNA tests established that 48 orangutans in a Bangkok wildlife park and five in the Chiang Mai Night Safari originated from Kalimantan. Only 41 of the animals will be shipped back to Indonesia because seven have to undergo medical treatment for hepatitis B.
Kenyans cheer Thai coup
September 26, 2006 /Edition 1/
Wildlife activists in Kenya heaved a sigh of relief yesterday as experts said this week's coup 'etat in Thailand had dealt a final blow to a controversial plan to export animals to a Thai zoo.
The ouster of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has effectively killed the proposal to send hundreds of wild African animals to a safari park in the ex-premier's hometown in the South-east Asian nation, they said.
The deal is as good as dead," said a senior official in Kenya's tourism ministry, which had promoted the deal despite a huge outcry. "Ironically, it's a bit of a relief, since the government had come under intense pressure left, right and centre to stop it," the official said.
Elizabeth Wamba, the east African spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, has urged the Kenyan government to rip up the transfer agreement.
"It was a bad deal from the onset," she said. Josiah Aligula of the David Sheldrick Trust, which cares for orphaned elephant and rhino at the famed Nairobi National Park, said the political developments in Thailand had saved many animals.
All along, wildlife experts had complained that the deal violated fundamental conservation tenets. They launched a massive campaign that included threats to boycott Kenya as a tourism destination to stop the transfer, but succeeded only in taking rare and endangered species off the list of animals to be sent.
Under the agreement, Kenya was to have send 175 animals, including zebra, flamingo, buffalo, wildebeest, hippo, spotted hyena, silver-back jackal and impala to northern Thailand.
Thaksin, who was ousted by the Thai military on Tuesday, opened a R180-million theme park in February, but without the animals from Kenya, which were to have been the park's star attractions.
Pretoria News 27th Sept 2006
Elephant-koala swap draws activists' ire
Zoos deny it would endanger species
Bangkok Post, 08 March 2005, KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
An elephant-koala exchange programme between Thailand and Australia has drawn fierce opposition from animal right activists in both countries who fear it would lead to maltreatment of the endangered animals.
Under the scheme, Thailand is to send eight female elephants and one male, aged 3-8 years, to Sydney's Taronga zoo and Melbourne zoo in Australia and to Wellington zoo in New Zealand in exchange for at least two koalas from Australia.
The koalas will be kept at the two-billion-baht new Night Safari zoo scheduled for opening next month in northern Chiang Mai province. Thailand also plans to import several wild animal species from Kenya for the zoo to boost its attraction.
Interim Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti last week moved to speed up the export of the elephants. He also ordered officials to complete the koala shelter being built at the Night Safari zoo by April as instructed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
International animal welfare groups, meanwhile, have been drumming up opposition to the exchange scheme since late last year, when they submitted a petition to Australia's Minister for the Environment and Heritage Ian Campbell, demanding him to reject the zoos' applications to import the young elephants from Thailand.
The activists said the animals would suffer a myriad of physiological and psychological problems caused by poor living conditions and Australian zoos' lack of experience in breeding Asian elephants.
Taronga, Australia's biggest zoo, said on its website that the project's aims were to breed and start a new population of Asian elephants in Australia, educate zoo visitors about the plight of elephants, and contribute to elephant conservation efforts in Thailand.
The zoo has committed A$40 million (about 1.2 billion baht) to the project, including the construction of an ``Asian Elephant Rainforest'' to display the Thai pachyderms.
Surapol Duangkhae, secretary-general of Wildlife Foundation of Thailand, said there was already a sharp drop in Thailand's elephant population and the animals should not be placed at risk to advance commercial interests.
"Exchanging rare animals for commercial purposes is no longer acceptable. A large number of our wild animals have died and were maltreated in such animal exchange projects,'' Mr Surapol said.
He said most young captive elephants were illegally caught from the wild, so supplying captive elephants to Australian zoos posed a direct threat to Thailand's wild elephant population.
The country now has about 1,600 elephants in the wild and about 3,000 captive elephants.
However, the head of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Schwann Tunhikorn, said the elephants to be exported were captive-bred and came from various shelters, so there was no need to treat them as endangered wild animals.
Elephants with a certificate of captivity were exempt from the wildlife export criteria of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), he said.
"The department's only job is to ensure that these elephants are accompanied with certificates to prove they did not come from the wild,'' he said. [return]
Safari World, Phuket FantaSea could close this week
The Nation, 07 March 2005,
Suchat Sritama
Safari World Plc, the operator of Phuket's landmark tourist attraction, Phuket FantaSea, as well as Bangkok's Safari World open zoo, is threatening to close both businesses this week if it fails to secure financial support for the ailing parks.
The company's president Pin Kewkacha said that without the loan, he was ready to sell the business and seek a permanent home in China with his family.
"I'll do what I say. This is the last call for help from the government," he said.
The threat comes after Pin's failure to secure a Bt120-million loan from commercial banks and the Bank of Thailand needed to restore Phuket FantaSea, which was damaged by the December 26 tsunami. The banks have told Pin that the soft loans he wanted were only available for existing clients and Safari World Plc was not a customer.
Pin said that if he were unable to receive financial aid from the banks, he would be left with no choice but to abandon both FantaSea and Safari World. He noted that the group expected to lose at least Bt900 million in revenue this year from both businesses - Bt600 million from Phuket FantaSea and the remainder from Safari World.
He said the company was now in its worst financial position since Safari World was opened 20 years ago, and since Phuket FantaSea first opened its doors to tourists seven years ago. Pin said Phuket FantaSea had suffered a revenue decline of Bt250 million since the tsunami. The tsunami also destroyed the entrance area to the theme park, which cost Bt70 million to restore.
Safari World, located north of Bangkok, earned between Bt200 to Bt300 million in the same period, down from its target of Bt500 million because of a fall in the number of tourists visiting the park.
Phuket FantaSea was closed for 22 days following the tsunami, from January 8 to January 31. Pin's company has invested Bt3 billion in Safari World, which employs 1,100 people. Phuket FantaSea was built at a cost of Bt3.5 billion and has 800 employees.
Pin said it costs Bt1 million a day each to run FantaSea and Safari and there were not enough visitors passing through the gates to cover that cost.
Safari World is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Safari World's sister company, which owns Phuket FantaSea, was planning to list in November. The owners of FantaSea earlier announced that they would build another theme park in the east of Thailand. [return]
Lop Buri monkeys get hot under the collar
The Nation, 03 March 2005, Sorasak Taptimprai
LOP BURI - The soaring mercury has apparently stressed the more than 1,000 monkeys living in front of a local shrine here, turning the famously tame animals violent.
Some of the Macaque monkeys have bitten passers-by, who were sent to hospital for tetanus shots.
Authorities have also been forced to step up security, dispatching young red-clad security guards to chase away monkeys that act threateningly toward people visiting San Phra Kan shrine in the city known for its monkey inhabitants.
"When it's very hot, the monkeys appear moody and they will try to snatch food from people," said Yongyos Kongcharoen, manager of the shrine.
To appease the primates, the shrine has been giving them food and provided a three-metre-wide pool for the ornery critters to bask in when temperatures soar.
People bitten by monkeys should be given tetanus shots, said Chumpol Boonrod, a veterinarian working for the provincial livestock office.
"There's little risk of rabies, but a high risk of tuberculosis infections, from the bites," he said.
Located in Muang district, the shrine with the monkey residents attracts many tourists.
MP Suchat Lainamngern, who often pays respects to San Phra Kan, suggested people donate milk to the monkeys.
"The monkeys like milk and it will be good for all," he said.
Meanwhile, local people near Sompoch Mountain in Chai Badan district and Samorkhon Mountain in Tha Wung district have complained that the monkeys in their neighbourhoods had stolen their food after having trouble foraging for chow during the drought. [return]
Elephant art to set record
The Nation, 18 February 2005, Autsadaporn Kamthai
Chiang Mai -
A painting in this northern city is expected to fetch over Bt1 million when it is completed tomorrow, which would make it the most expensive work of art by elephants.
The painting by eight elephants at Mae Sa Elephant Camp in Mae Rim district has been reserved by Phanit Warin, a Northerner now retired in the United States, camp director Anchalee Kalmapijit said yesterday.
Representatives of Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand to certify the painting as the most expensive made by elephants.
The 12-metre-long by 2.4m-wide painting will be titled "Cold Winds, Swirling Mist, Charms of Lanna" for depicting the beauty of the North's landscape. The eight jumbos have been trained for over four years and are the most skilled in the camp.
Kim Lacey, a researcher for Guinness World Records, who specialises in plants and animals, will preside over the transaction with over with 500 people expected to act as witnesses.
The painting's price will be revealed at that time, Anchalee said, but hinted that the offer was over Bt1 million.
The proceeds will go to the camp while Phanit plans to donate her purchase to the Thai government, Anchalee said.
"What we actually want is not to make money from the sale of the painting, but to publicise the human-like talents and character of elephants to the world," Anchalee said.
Many foreigners have a false impression that pachyderms here are maltreated, as they are often exploited and made to wander in cities to earn money for their owners, she said.
"We need to show that not all elephants in Thailand are treated this way." [return]
Deadly virus found in wild birds once again
Bangkok Post, 05 February 2005, RANJANA WANGVIPULA
The deadly avian flu virus has emerged among wild birds again after officials reported nearly 500 open-billed storks have died since last month and test results showed at least some were affected by the H5N1 virus strain.
"The deaths were similar to those of last year, but this year the scope is smaller,'' said Schwann Tunhikorn, director of the Wildlife Conservation Bureau.
Open-billed storks are migratory birds that frequently visit Thailand.
Their unusual deaths were first reported early last year. The bureau said yesterday that 496 birds died in Bung Boraphet wildlife refuge in Nakhon Sawan province, and 73 of them on Feb 3 alone.
Officials sent fluids obtained from the dead birds for examination at universities and the results showed some had contracted bird flu. Officials had tightened control measures after cases of human deaths from the disease were reported recently in Vietnam.
"The infected storks probably caught the virus from ducks while they fed elsewhere before flying back to their nests in the centre of the wildlife refuge,'' said Mr Schwann.
Wildlife officials have enforced strict measures to prevent the disease from spreading further by burning and disinfecting areas where sick storks have been found. But they have refrained from launching a mass cull, an issue that raised a heated debate early last year.
Some concerned parties demanded a cull, arguing the storks brought the disease with them to Thailand. But wildlife officials have argued the birds' country of origin, Bangladesh, has reported no bird flu cases. The officials said the storks probably caught the virus during their stay in Thailand. Officials also found doves in Chachoengsao, Sukhothai and Uthai Thani provinces had died of bird flu. In Lop Buri, a Zebra dove was also found dead from the virus.
Nirandorn Aungtragoolsuk, director of the Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services, said tests confirmed chickens in Suphan Buri had bird flu. [return]
Mahouts, tigers swap for African animals
Bangkok Post, 17 December 2004, TUL PINKAEW
Chiang Mai - Thailand will trade mahouts and tigers for Kenya's prized trophy animals in a bid to get Chiang Mai's Night Safari Park up and running by next year, the project chief said yesterday.
"We will send six Thai tigers (Pantera tigris) plus five trained mahouts to train African elephants as well as establish a Wildlife Preservation Centre in Kenya in exchange for 300 native Kenyan savannah animals of 34 different species,'' said Plodprasop Suraswadi, chairman of the government committee in charge of the project.
The animals, to include African elephants, antelopes and even rare birds and lizards, will be selected from Nairobi National Park and the renowned Masimara National Park.
"It will also be the first time anyone has tried to train the African elephant. People say it cannot be tamed, but I believe we have what it takes'' said Mr Plodprasop.
Five mahouts will travel to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, next year after the exchange deal is confirmed in January, and the elephant training team will start work on orphaned calves first and see how it progresses.
Mr Plodprasop said the Wildlife Preservation Centre, which will be taken care of by the Thai ambassador to Kenya, would concentrate on developing ways to deter poachers.
The trade move comes after Thailand and Kenya signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month to assist each other on wildlife and tourism issues.
"The rest of the animals will come from Tanzania, South Africa and Australia, as well as some from local national parks. The transfer of the animals is in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) cross-boundary regulations'' said Mr Plodprasop.
"Everything will be ready by April.''
Chiang Mai's Night Safari Park, based on Singapore's Night Safari Zoo, was a project initiated by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to boost tourism in his hometown.
Since 2002 the 800-rai project, however, has faced stiff opposition from locals who rely heavily on underground water for consumption. The villagers fear their water will be used up by the zoo and what is is left of it will be contaminated by animal droppings.
Surapon Duangkhae, secretary-general of Wildlife Fund Thailand, said he did not understand why the country had to have a night safari full of foreign animals as Thailand had its own abundant wildlife resources.
"A zoo is suppose to educate people and teach them about their native animals but all we have here are foreign immigrants imported to raise ticket prices,'' he said.
Mr Surapon was also afraid that smuggling could occur, warning that local Cites officials had been known to make "private deals''.
"The orangutan and the tiger incidents could play themselves out all over again,'' he said a reference to the alleged smuggling of orangutans by the Safari World zoo and the export to China of 100 tigers by Sri Racha Tiger Zoo. [return]
Wildlife protection events
The Nation, 16 December 2004
The Khao Ang Reu Nai wildlife sanctuary in Chachoengsao will stage a three-day event in the lead up to National Wildlife Protection Day, including a photo exhibition of rare species and a night safari.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation would be holding simultaneous celebrations for National Wildlife Protection Day on December 26 at Phrae, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani and Chachoengsao, said Yoo Senatham, sanctuary manager.
Between December 24 and 26, the wildlife sanctuary, which encloses 600,000 rai of forestland, would host a photo exhibition of rare animals, an animal drawing contest for children, a wildlife quiz and a live concert, Yoo said. At night, visitors will have the chance to see wild elephants and a variety of nocturnal animals near Highway 3259 between kilometre 15 and 30, Yoo added. [return]
FORESTRY POLICE: Safari park owner to face charges
The Nation, 16 December 2004
DNA tests confirm orang-utans were not bred on site, as keepers claimed.
The owner of Safari World is facing charges of illegally possessing 57 orang-utans after DNA tests confirmed that 12 young apes were not the offspring of the zoo's breeding stock as claimed, thus increasing the number of allegedly smuggled orang-utans.
If convicted, Pin Kiewkacha will be liable to up to five years in jail or a fine equal to four times the value of the orang-utans, or both.
"We'll press charges against Pin once we're sure the evidence is solid," Maj-General Sawaek Pinsinchai, chief of the Forestry Police, said yesterday.
He appeared along with Kasetsart University staff yesterday at a press conference announcing the test results. The university was paid Bt300,000 to do the testing.
Sawaek said that police have been investigating the popular private zoo since late last year and have acted only after receiving solid evidence.
"We've treaded carefully with this case, because it's quite sensitive. It can affect tourism here," he said.
The zoo said 43 of the 102 orang-utans found in its compound were legally bred but admitted that it had obtained 45 others through illegal donations. The remaining 14 were from breeding stock, it said.
The tests, however, found that the DNA of 12 of the young apes supposedly bred legally did not match their alleged parents.
Sawaek said available evidence suggested that the orang-utans might have been smuggled from Indonesia, but it remained unclear how they ended up at Safari World. "Even if some people really did donate the apes to the zoo, Safari World has still committed the offence of illegal possession," he said.
Orang-utans are classified as endangered under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
Sawaek said he would ask Suwit Khunkitti, minister for natural resources and the environment, to return the illegal orang-utans to Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Pin said he would not challenge the test results, but still insisted that the DNA tests could have picked up on some illegally obtained apes instead of the legally bred ones.
"I think this case is very common. Most zoos do the same thing," he said. He remained adamant that the scandal would not affect the number of tourists to his zoo.
Safari World used to hold daily orang-utan boxing matches before they were suspended in early August after the smuggling allegations. [return]
Wildlife exchange deal agreed with Kenya
Night Safari to get 300 native animals
Bangkok Post, 05 December 2004, Anucha Charoenpo in Nairobi, Kenya
Thailand and Kenya have signed a first-of-its-kind deal to exchange native wildlife to promote tourism between the countries.
The agreement was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, who oversees tourism, and Kenyan Tourism and Wildlife Minister Raphael Tuju. Mr Suwat, on a week-long visit to Kenya, said the Kenyan government would send about 300 indigenous animals of 24 different species, including a lion and leopard, to the Chiang Mai Night Safari which opens on April 13.
Thailand would send 20 officials to study wildlife management for three months in Kenya so they can properly look after the animals.
In exchange, Thailand will send tigers to Kenya. It will also help Kenya to relocate elephants, currently foraging for food in agricultural areas, to forest areas.
The agreement was the result of talks between Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who visited Thailand in October last year.
Plodprasop Surassawadee, who accompanied Mr Suwat to Kenya and was financing the two-billion-baht Chiang Mai Night Safari project, said all wildlife exchanged between the two countries will be quarantined for one month.
Meanwhile, Thailand says it will let Kenya Airways run seven flights a week from Nairobi.
At present the airline only runs three flights a week to Thailand. [return]
Greenie see, greenie do
The Nation, 30 November 2004
A foreign couple tied the knot yesterday in true amorous gibbon style.
The two animal conservationists, who were caring for gibbons on Phuket, found the unswerving love of monkey couples reflected in their own growing love for each other.
"Once the gibbon has chosen a mate it will not philander," said 26-year-old Sam Lake from England, who's now married to 28-year-old Norka Russin from Israel. The couple met two months ago while working as volunteers in Phuket's "Return Gibbons to the Forest" project.
Lake, accompanied by a drum band and carrying trays of gifts, summoned his mate by imitating a male gibbon call, whereupon his bride responded with happy monkey calls of her own while swinging down from a treetop into Lake's embrace.
Unlike gibbons, though, the couple then exchanged wedding bands, performed a Thai-style water-cleansing ceremony, and registered their marriage with Phuket Deputy Governor Niran Kallayanamit, who officiated at the event, which was held (true to animal conservationist form) at an animal activity yard in a wildlife sanctuary in Thalang district.
Lake expressed hopes that his gibbon-style nuptials would bring international attention to the plight of gibbons in the wild. "The number of gibbons is fast decreasing and we need to protect them," he said.
As their wedding gift to the couple, officials from the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WAR) "Return Gibbons to the Forest" programme released a gibbon family of four into the wild.
Suwalai Pinpradab, the director of Tourism Southern Bureau IV, said Lake and Russin were the first couple to be united in gibbon-style and that she would consider adding this new kind of marriage ceremony to the Tourism Authority of Thailand's famous underwater and cliff-climbing weddings. [return]
Couple takes a marriage lesson from gibbons
Bangkok Post, 30 November 2004, ACHATTHAYA CHUENNIRAN
A forest in Phuket was yesterday turned into a wedding venue for a British man and his Israeli girlfriend.
The ceremony "Wedding in the Wild'' was organised by the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WAR), tourism authorities and the office of Khao Prathaew wildlife sanctuary in Phuket's Thalang district. Sam Legh, 26, a British volunteer with the foundation's "Returning Gibbons to the Forest'' project and his Israeli girlfriend Noga Ruschin, 28, also a volunteer, said they admired wild gibbons and wanted to get married in a forest where the animals live. They were impressed with the monogamous love life of the gibbons and would follow their example.
The wedding atmosphere was lively and colourful with gibbon dolls hanging on trees along the route leading to the Bangpae waterfall in the compound of Khao Prathaew wildlife sanctuary, the wedding venue.
There was a klong yao, traditional Thai drums, parade escorting the groom-to-be to the wedding place. The couple wore Thai-style wedding costume.
When he arrived at the forest, the 26-year-old Briton shouted out the name of his bride-to-be.
Upon hearing her name, the woman climbed up an 8-metre-high tree and imitated a female gibbon's voice "phua phua'' which sound like the Thai word for husband. She then descended from the trees on a sling and hugged her groom-to-be, who gave her a wedding ring. They had their marriage registered by the Thalang district chief in front of family members and guests. After the ceremony, a family of four gibbons was released into the forest.
Thanaphat Payakkhaporn, of the gibbons project, said this wedding would encourage more foreign couples to tie the knot in the forest.
Mrs Suwalai Pinpradab, director of the tourism office in the South, said the British volunteer and his girlfriend had only learned how to climb a tree and imitate a gibbon's voice just before the wedding.
The couple's wedding and their love of gibbons would help raise awareness about wildlife and forest conservation. [return]
Disease control effort hurting wild animals
Scientific consensus needed, experts say
Bangkok Post, 20 November 2004, KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Increased international collaboration among public health, wildlife, and trade sectors is needed to cope with emerging diseases such as avian influenza, mad cow and food and mouth diseases, health experts, veterinarians and economists said.
Speaking at a forum on "Emerging Diseases and Ecosystem'', held yesterday during the third IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok, the experts called on IUCN member states to include wildlife biology in decision-making relating to the control of outbreaks of animal diseases.
Wild animals had become "victims'' of many governments' outbreak control schemes, which were often portrayed by public health officials as the host of infectious diseases, said William Karesh, co-chair of the IUCN's veterinary specialist group.
"The mass cull of free-ranging wildlife species for disease control must be limited to situations where there is a multidisciplinary, international scientific consensus that a wildlife population poses significant threat to public health,'' the group said in a draft resolution, to be submitted to the congress next week.
The draft stresses the need for a crackdown on global wildlife trade, which they say is a major cause of infectious animal disease outbreaks. Governments must also warn people against eating exotic animals to avoid contracting animal-borne diseases.
They also warned that changing ecosystems through development can lead to changes in populations of vectors and potential hosts and to new patterns of diseases spread in ways which are often unforeseen and could cause potentially catastrophic effects.
"We have seen a lot of interesting emerging diseases in the past few years. The current outbreaks of bird flu in Asian countries are the most dramatic,'' said Dr Sonja Olsen, of the US Centers for Disease Control.
"It is interesting that the (H5N1) virus is everywhere now. But why are there very few cases? This maybe because the virus is inefficient in transmitting from poultry to humans.
"We don't know the precise reason (why there have been few human cases), but I would not be surprised if there are more human cases that have not been reported in the region,'' she said.
The outbreak of avian influenza in Southeast Asia had resulted in economic damage in the range of US$5-10 billion, while damage caused by livestock disease outbreaks in the past decade cost up to about $80 billion, according to economist James Newcomb, vice-president of the US-based Bio-Economics Research Group.
"We need a new type of institutional instrument to tackle this emergency,'' he said.
Nicholas Robinson, chairman of the IUCN commission on environmental law, said a lack of cooperation between agricultural, health, and environmental officials was a major cause of the weakness in infectious disease control systems worldwide. [return]
Adopt an ex-laboratory monkey
The BUAV is delighted to announce a unique and wonderful opportunity for you to adopt an ex-laboratory animal.
You can now adopt one of fifty delightful Macaque monkeys who have been rescued by the BUAV from a testing laboratory in Thailand. The BUAV's supporters will remember the monkey's sad predicament back in 2002, when we discovered them during a tour of Asia in which we were making presentations on non-animal testing techniques. They were held in tiny, barren cages, where they had remained for over ten years in solitary confinement, and when we saw their plight we were determined to get them out.
Many of the monkeys had obviously become extremely disturbed, demonstrating stereotypical behaviour such as repetitive cage circling, a sign of severe mental breakdown. Some had ripped out their fur and others had withdrawn into an almost trance like state. It was truly heartbreaking.
Having been trapped in the rainforest years before, they had been locked behind bars for so long that the rainforest had become a distant memory. Worst of all, when the BUAV found them, we discovered that the lab was planning one more, and this time fatal, experiment. But after many anxious months of planning and negotiations, we were at last able to convince the laboratory to release them.
We contacted a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre in Thailand, which has the skills and expertise to provide the monkeys with a permanent home. Thankfully they agreed to take the monkeys.
Thank you so much if you were able to support the BUAV in 2003, and helped us raise the funds we so desperately needed to build the enclosures and provide the much-needed veterinary care, medicines and food.
The BUAV was delighted by the levels of response we had to this urgent appeal. We received literally thousands of donations to help make the rescue a success - in the nick of time. Whether just a few pence or a much larger gift, every donation was gratefully received and helped us reach our target.
Gifts came from a wide range of sources, and included Paul McCartney and The Body Shop Foundation.
At last the monkeys were released into the sanctuary, which is now a beautiful lush paradise deep in the rainforest in Thailand. The monkeys now live at the sanctuary in safety and comfort. The release was amazing to watch. The first thing the monkeys did was hold each other, deprived for so long of the comfort of touch. Very soon afterwards, they gleefully re-discovered their natural climbing abilities amongst the trees. The BUAV's undercover investigator, Ben, remembers the day of the rescue fondly:
"I watched as one monkey picked up a leaf and studied it closely, tearing it carefully in half and gently putting it in her mouth. Another watched a butterfly gliding from flower to flower and was unable to take her eyes away."
When Ben returned to the sanctuary the day after the rescue he recalls the monkeys were
"...all sitting around the pond taking it in turns to dip their little hands in and watching, entranced, as the water dripped from their fingers. As I turned to leave, a monkey came right up to me and stared into my eyes. For the first time there was no fear. I looked at her and whispered in her ear 'you've come home'."
In the rescue sanctuary these inquisitive animals have access to trees, ponds and lots of space to forage. Most importantly, they have each other so they can play and socialise all they please. The monkeys did not have this in the research laboratory - where they spent over ten years of their lives in solitary cages after they were caught in the wild for cruel experiments.
Now you can adopt one of these wonderful monkeys. This would help the BUAV cover the ongoing costs involved in providing the monkeys with the care and attention they deserve for the rest of their lives, and also to campaign for an end to experiments on all monkeys worldwide.
Paul McCartney has already extended his support by adopting one of the monkeys:
"I was delighted to be able to adopt a BUAV ex-laboratory monkey and wholeheartedly support the BUAV's important work, campaigning to end all experiments on primates"
Each monkey costs the BUAV around £15 a month to feed, £40 a year for veterinary care and £60 a year for medication. Then the BUAV also needs to cover the costs of keeping the enclosures in good condition and repair. These might sound like small sums, but they all mount up - especially if we are to care for all fifty monkeys, year after year.
For £24 a year, you could adopt a monkey and help the BUAV cover some of these costs, and to continue to campaign for an end to testing on monkeys around the world. Just print and complete the coupon below and return to: BUAV, FREEPOST, London N7 8BR.
Please call 020 7700 4888 or email monkeys@buav.org if you would like further information about the adoption scheme or about the BUAV's vital work to end experiments on monkeys.
Download an adoption form in PDF format.
Lab glitch delays DNA test results
Bangkok Post, 09 November 2004, RANJANA WANGVIPULA
DNA testing on 50 orang-utans suspected of having been smuggled into the country has run into an unexpected delay, as the lab doing the testing has failed to identify their genetic code, a veterinarian said yesterday.
"The lab did a good job on the first sample but failed in the other 49. I have no idea what happened and am quite upset at having to start things all over again,'' said Theerapol Sirinarumitr, a vet at Kasetsart University.
He declined to name the lab but said it is state-owned.
Mr Theerapol has led a team of vets to test DNA samples taken from the 50 orang-utans at the request of forestry police, who suspect the Safari World Zoo may have illegally imported the rare primates from Malaysia or Indonesia.
The private zoo earlier claimed to have acquired about half of its orang-utan population of more than 100 through donations, but insisted 43 of them were born to their seven captive parents purchased before 1992, when the Wildlife Protection Act came into effect.
The police demanded the primates be subject to DNA tests and started collecting blood samples from them in late September. Mr Theerapol then extracted their DNAs from the blood samples and employed a scientific method called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to increase the volume of each DNA, so it could be detected and identified.
A problem occurred when all DNA samples were sent to the lab, which allegedly failed to identify their genetic codes, according to Mr Theerapol, who needed the results to compare whether the DNAs of the 43 orang-utans matched those of the seven apes the zoo said were their parents.
He said the lab's excuse was that it had received an insufficient DNA volume, making it unable to detect the substance. Some of his work that required the lab's expertise had also faced a similar problem in recent months, Mr Theerapol said.
His team had sent two new samples to another state-owned lab. If everything went smoothly, he would send all samples to the new lab, which should give him the test results in the next three weeks, the vet said.
"There's nothing to do but to wait for the results. We can't do it ourselves,'' said Pol Lt-Col Chatchai Thamvichai, who heads a team of forestry police handling the case. Wildlife Conservation Bureau director Schwann Tunhikorn defended the laboratory, saying technical mistakes can happen. [return]
Another 60 tigers under bird flu watch
Sri Racha zoo closure extended by 21 days
Bangkok Post, 29 October 2004, Jerdsak Saengthongcharoen and Preeyanat Phanayanggoor
Another 60 tigers have been put under bird flu watch at Sri Racha Tiger Zoo and they will be put to death if tests show they are infected with the virus.
Blood samples had been sent to labs at Kasetsart and Chulalongkorn universities and the Livestock Research Centre for testing, Chon Buri governor Pisit Ketphasuk said yesterday. They would be killed by lethal injection if the tests came back positive.
The zoo previously had 441 tigers but 83 have died of bird flu or been killed after tests showed they were infected with the disease. Provincial officials inspected the zoo yesterday and decided to keep it under watch for 21 more days under the communicable disease control law.
Mr Pisit said the zoo could reopen if the tests were negative and the zoo could prove it was free of bird flu.
Raw chicken carcasses believed to have transmitted the virus to the tigers were not from slaughterhouses in Chon Buri province, he said.
The Livestock Development Department was now heading the search for the source and working on measures to prevent it happening again.
Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng advised pet owners, especially children, to be very careful when touching pets which have come in contact with chickens or ducks because it was possible they could indirectly be infected with the virus. Mr Chaturon leads the national committee combating bird flu.
The director-general of the Disease Control Department, Thawat Suthracharn, said health officials would instruct provincial governors to pay more attention to chicken-raising areas and ensure they were kept clean to help prevent the further spread of the disease. [return]
Virus kills 23 tigers at private zoo
Bangkok Post, 20 October 2004
Twenty-nine tigers at Sri Racha Tiger Zoo in Chon Buri have died since last Thursday, with most of the deaths confirmed to be from bird flu.
Earlier yesterday, officials said laboratory test results confirmed that 23 tigers kept at the private zoo have died of avian influenza. Later in the day a zoo spokesman said a total of 29 tigers have died.
The dead tigers are believed to have contracted bird flu from eating raw chicken carcasses, their staple food at the zoo.
But officials said the mass tiger death did not signify a virus mutation although a research team would make a study.
"Mammals can contract the disease if exposed to it. Those tigers ate a lot of chickens suspected of carrying the virus,'' said Dr Nirundorn Aungtragoolsuk, who heads the Livestock Development Department's Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services.
The dead tigers were aged between eight months and two years. Prior to their deaths there were 441 at the zoo, which opened in 1997 to raise mainly tigers and crocodiles.
They fell ill and died of severe lung infection at a rate of four or five each day from Oct 14.
Dr Charal Trinvudhipong, director of the government's anti-bird flu centre, said about 30 other tigers were also ill. They had been quanrantined and their tissue samples sent for testing.
More than 200 zoo workers have been given medical examination. Thirty-seven of them had earlier developed fever but were tested negative for bird flu, he said.
The zoo operator has decided to close down the park until safety can be assured.
Managing director Maitri Temsiripong said the zoo bought 15 tonnes of raw chicken ribs daily from exporting factories in the province and in Bangkok.
The zoo shutdown would mean an income loss of 700,000-800,000 baht a day, he said, but he was thankful more than 50 officials had been deployed to help contain the disease at the zoo.
If the problem was not solved soon, tourism and tiger breeding at the zoo would be severely hurt, he said.
Dr Charal said raw chicken carcasses supplied by a slaughtershouse nearby were probably the prime cause of the epidemic at the zoo. Tests on carcasses there would be completed soon.
More than 600 workers at the slaugterhouse also received medical checks but none showed symptoms of bird flu.
Officials would check the slaugtherhouse to see whether it had violated official guidelines that chickens must be examined before slaughter. Violations would lead to its closure.
"We can say now that the situation is under control,'' Dr Charal declared, saying the mass tiger death was ``not an unusual occurrence''. Six tigers contracted the virus during the first bird flu outbreak and only one survived.
Dr Schwann Tunhikorn, director of Wildlife Conservation Bureau, said other zoos in the country, 45 of which also raise tigers, had been told to pay special attention to the food they give their animals.
During the current outbreak of the disease, the second in the kingdom, four people were infected from July 1-Oct 1. Three of them died while the other has recovered.
Four patients are under medical care as suspected cases, while 116 others are awaiting lab test results.
Since Oct 1, bird flu has been confirmed in poultry in 39 provinces and 177,069 chickens have been culled. [return]
needed to crack down on wrongdoers, many of whom walk away with light punishments and carry on the trade.
''We need time to teach lawyers, judges and prosecutors it's an organised crime which is very serious,'' said Katalin Rodics, head of Hungary's Division of International Nature Conservation Agreements.
Hungary is a major transit point for wild animals smuggled from Asia and Africa to major western European markets, where animal parts for traditional Chinese medicines are in huge demand.
But she said many eastern central European countries, including Hungary, have weak wildlife smuggling laws.
She said the way forward is to raise awareness among judges about how grave wildlife crime is since punishments very much depend on them.
Hong Kong senior forestry officer CS Cheung said: ''Several years ago we organised training for magistrates and it worked. We saw some magistrates starting to impose heavier fines on wildlife [trade] criminals.''
Mr Cheung said many countries have already established systems embracing fines, life sentences and the death penalty.
But which of these is chosen depends on the various perceptions by judges about the severity of the crime.
The illegal transnational wildlife trade has been a major concern of the global wildlife trade regulator, CITES, which has been striving to end the problem through stricter trade controls.
According to the official World Conservation Union ''Red List,'' a total of 5,428 species, from insects to elephants are threatened with extinction.
Thailand's Forestry Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Swake Pinsinchai claimed illegal wildlife trade penalties in Thailand were not weak as there was a maximum fine of 40,000-baht and four years in jail.
He admitted most criminals were usually fined, but punishment was up to the courts and it was inappropriate to interfere with their decisions. [return]
