The Safari World Orangutan Scandal

August 2004

In one of the most blatant and callous animal "heists" in the history of wildlife smuggling, Safari World, a huge amusement park in Minburi, Thailand, managed to amass around 140 orangutans, mainly youngsters, at its facility, even though orangutans are legally protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Some of these orangutans have been used in disgusting "kick-boxing" shows.

IPPL is active in an international campaign to have the orangutans returned to their homeland of Indonesia. In July 2004 the Indonesian Government requested the return of the animals. In addition, Indonesian non-governmental organizations, including the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and Pro Fauna, are calling for the animals’ confiscation and their return to their homeland.

From Safari World's web site click image for larger version

Safari World

Safari World was founded by Thai businessman Mr. Pin Kewkacha in the 1980s. It rapidly acquired hundreds of animals from all over the world and is known to have acquired wildlife from unsavory Thai and international dealers.

For over a year, Wildlife Friends of Thailand, a hard-working non-governmental organization campaigning for the protection of Thai wildlife, has been drawing the world’s attention to Safari World’s huge collection of orangutans and requesting an official investigation.

November 2003: Safari World raided

In November 2003 Thai forestry police raided Safari World. The Forestry Police Department is not part of Thailand’s forestry department, which has long been considered ineffective at fighting wildlife crime. It is a full police agency and is part of Thailand’s National Police Bureau.

About 200 police from the Central Investigation Bureau spent three hours searching Safari World after handing a search warrant to owner Pin Kewkacha. Forestry Police Chief Major-General Sawek Pinsinchai reported that the police team chief had found 115 orangutans. He added that police also found electronic game machines, which are banned under Thailand’s gambling laws.

July 2004: more raids on Safari World

In July 2004 Thailand’s Forestry police again raided Safari World. A delegation of Indonesian government officials and several representatives of Indonesian non-governmental organizations accompanied the police team. Amazingly, only 69 orangutans were found: 46 animals had apparently vanished into thin air. Safari World staff explained that 41 of the animals had died of natural causes, and that their carcasses had been destroyed.

The 8 August 2004 issue of Malaysia’s New Sunday Times quoted an unidentified Safari World employee:
The dead orangutans, mostly young animals, developed diarrhea and respiratory diseases in April and May. We had to burn them to prevent the spread of the disease, but we have their photos and documented their symptoms before their disposal.

Thai Police Major General Sawek Pinsinchai commented, "It’s really suspicious because last month they said the orangutans were all there."

Willie Smits of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation told the press that DNA testing would confirm that Mr. Pin’s claim that the orangutans were bred in captivity were false.

From the genetic testing, we will absolutely 100 percent be able to prove that these orangutans cannot have been bred in Safari World, that this is a lie.

August 2004: the "dead" orangutans re-appear!

The suspicious forestry police officers announced they would investigate the site where the remains of the 41 purportedly dead orangutans were buried. It appeared that five really had died or disappeared. Police Major Gen Sawek commented:
We will inspect whether the apes’ bones still exist and if they all came from the same group of orangutans as the living ones.

On 14 August 2004 Channel News Asia reported that 36 of the missing orangutans had been found:
Thai police have found dozens of rare orangutans that a scandal-hit private zoo claimed had been cremated after dying from pneumonia. The 36 animals were found alive in small cages at Bangkok’s Safari World during a police probe into claims they had been smuggled from Borneo or the Indonesian island of Sumatra for staged kick-boxing bouts at the zoo. A police swoop last week uncovered only 69 of the 110 suspected smuggled animals. Zoo officials claimed the 41 missing animals were cremated after they died of pneumonia, but police believed they had been spirited away to hamper the smuggling probe.

Police Colonel Wichit Nuntawong told the press,
We went looking for the apes and he (Pin) finally ran out of places to hide them. The law is on our side. We will not let this go away, we expect to lay more charges against Mr. Pin’s employees.

Safari World owner: smuggling and money-laundering charges
IPPL has learned that Mr. Pin is facing wildlife smuggling and money laundering charges and that other associates of the amusement park may be prosecuted.

As of writing, the orangutans are still at Safari World. Wildlife protectors fear that, unless international pressure forces the Thai government to confiscate the animals, they may never be returned to Indonesia.

LETTERS NEEDED Please send letters to the Thai officials listed below. Express your approval of the police raids on Safari World and of the ban on use of orangutans in kick-boxing. Request that Thailand strengthen and enforce its wildlife protection laws so that no more smuggled animals are imported into Thailand. Express your hope that all officials and employees of Safari World involved in the acquisition of smuggled wildlife, and all animal dealers who have supplied the facility with smuggled animals, be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Thai law. Postage from the United States to Thailand costs 80 cents per ounce. To send letters to Thai embassies, please contact the embassy in the capital city of your country of residence. Here are the addresses for key Thai officials and the embassies of the United States and Canada: H.E. Kuhn Suwit Khunkitti Minister of Natural Resources and Environment 92 Paholyothin Road Kwaeng Samsen, Payathai District Bangkok 10400, Thailand H.E. Thaksin Shinawatra Prime Minister of Thailand Government House Thanon Nakhon Pathom, Dusit district Bangkok 10300, Thailand Police Major General Swake Pinsinchai Commander of Forestry Police Division P.O. Box 121 Bangkhen, Jatujak Bangkok 10900, Thailand Royal Thai Embassy 180 Island Park Drive Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y OA, Canada Fax: (613) 722-6624 His Excellency H.E. Kasit Piromya Royal Thai Embassy 1024 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Suite 401 Washington, D.C. 20007 Fax: (202) 944-3611 Baby orangutan rescued from trade in 1990

See related story - The Kick-Boxing Orangutans