Troubles in Thailand for Primates

August 2, 2004

Dear IPPL E-Alert List Member:

On the afternoon of 27 July 2004, 20 officials from the Thai Forestry Department stormed the Wildlife Friends of Thailand rescue center in Petchaburi and made away with fourteen of the center’s resident animals, including twelve macaques.

Courtesy Wildlife Friends of Thailand.

The raid took place on the eve of a major political meeting between the sanctuary’s founder and Director, Edwin Wiek, and several high-ranking Indonesian officials, including the Thai Forestry Director-General. The meeting focused on the repatriation of over 100 orangutans that are currently being illegally held in Thailand at various places, particularly at Safari World, a huge animal park that uses endangered orangutans in degrading "kick boxing" shows. Wiek has been actively lobbying for the confiscation, repatriation, and release back to the wild of the orangutans for over eight months, and the issue has caused increasingly large amounts of domestic press interest and international attention.

The rescue center offers refuge to over 130 animals and has a history of working closely with the Forestry Department, having previously returned animals to the authorities when appropriate enclosures or breeding programs became available. The violent and aggressive approach taken by the Forestry Department staff threatens the working relationship that has been built over the last three years since the centre was first established on temple grounds at Kao Look Chang.

Courtesy Wildlife Friends of Thailand.

The raid resulted a number of physical injuries to the confiscated animals, as the officials wrestled them to the ground with steel cable nooses and stuck them in tiny transport cages crammed onto the backs of trucks. Cages were stacked precariously on top of each other, causing the stressed monkeys to fight each other through the bars. American, European, and Australian animal lovers often help as volunteers at the center, and several of them sat in front of the trucks, in an attempt to prevent the animals from leaving the premises, before being physically removed by the local police.

The animals were also psychologically harmed by the trauma of being haphazardly torn away from their familiar family and social groups. Here are some of the brutalized animals:

• Harry and Ron, two baby long-tailed macaques each only a few months old, were rescued from a bar in Bangkok; terrified of people when they arrived, they had become a lot more easy-going and playful since being at the center.
• Thelma, a stump-tailed macaque, was rescued from a miserable life of stress-induced self-mutilation, chained up alone; she had recently been introduced to other stump tailed macaques and was finally learning to interact within a social group.
• Tarzan, a gentle giant of a pig-tailed macaque, was rescued from a miserable life in a small cage at a temple; desperately displaying his most submissive face, he was clearly terrified by the Forestry officials, who thought it was funny to poke him with sticks.

Courtesy Wildlife Friends of Thailand.

The fact that this raid took place on the eve of a meeting about the situation at Safari World is suggestive. Somehow, this Bangkok animal park has managed to amass well over 100 orangutans and has been using some of them in "kick boxing" shows. Safari World has made the incredible claim that the young animals were all born in captivity.

According to the 30 July 2004 issue of the "Nation," Thai officials from the Forestry Police Department raided Safari World to "officially confiscate the 115 orangutans that were found previously during the first raid on November 22nd 2003. The Orangutans are believed to be illegally obtained, a crime under the Wildlife Preservation Act of Thailand and a violation of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) of which Thailand is one of the signatories. Forestry Police Commander Major-General Swake Pinsinchai also ordered Safari World to stop the daily shows involving the orangutans from taking place."

Courtesy Wildlife Friends of Thailand.

"During the official inspection of the premises by officials and representatives of several NGOs it was discovered that only 69 out of the original 115 orangutans were still remaining at Safari World. No explanation was offered by the management concerning the whereabouts of the missing 46 orangutans."

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please send the following letters requesting:

1. that the animals confiscated from the Wildlife Friends of Thailand Sanctuary be returned to the sanctuary;
2. that Thai authorities search the files held by Safari World in regard to all endangered species it has acquired;
3. that the owners of Safari World and any dealers providing smuggled animals to Safari World be prosecuted and punished severely; and
4. that any foreign animal dealers involved in supplying wild-caught animals to Safari World be reported to their home governments.

Postage from the United States to Thailand is 80 cents.

H.E. Khun Suvit Khunkitty
Minister
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
92 Paholyothin Road
Kwaeng Samsen, Payathai District
10400 Bangkok, THAILAND

H.E. Prime-Minister Pol Lt-Col Thaksin Shinawatra
Government House
Thanon Pissanulok Dusit
Bangkok 10300, THAILAND

The Thai Ambassador in your country of residence. In the United States this is:

His Excellency H.E. Kasit Piromya
Royal Thai Embassy
1024 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Suite 401
Washington, D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 944-3600
Fax: (202) 944-3611

The Thai Embassy in Canada is located at:

Royal Thai Embassy
180 Island Park Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1Y OA2
Tel: (613) 722-4444
Fax: (613) 722-6624

Thank you, as always

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman
International Primate Protection League
PO Box 766
Summerville, SC 29484, USA
Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988
E-mail - smcgreal@ippl.org, Web: www.ippl.org

P.S. Would you like to help support IPPL's own ape sanctuary? Now you can sponsor one of IPPL's own gibbons and receive quarterly updates on "your" animal (Courtney, Beanie, Arun Rangsi--or a gibbon of your choice). Visit www.ippl.org and click on "Adopt an IPPL Gibbon."