WWF set to conduct mass macaque vasectomy in Thailand

August 18, 2002

August 18, 2002, Sunday

The Nation

WWF set to conduct mass macaque vasectomy

A global organisation famous for its dedication to saving animals threatened

with extinction may soon end up doing the opposite in Thailand.

The World Wildlife Fund is planning to send teams of veterinarians into the

wild to neuter hundreds of macaque monkeys, something it has never done

before. The mass vasectomy project is intended to check the booming

population of monkeys on Khao Chong Krachok (Mirror Tunnel Mountain) in this

central province, said Pornpen Payakhaporn, secretary-general of the World

Wildlife Fund Thailand.

The mountain, with a hole in one side that appears to reflect the sky, is a

popular tourist attraction.

A survey found about 1,000 macaques swarming around the mountain's

Thammikaram Temple, Pornpen said.

The fund is gauging the public opinion before deciding whether to proceed

with the plan, she added.

If the operation gets the green light about 10 per cent of the male monkeys

will be neutered, she added.

Deputy governor Thaworn Phothisombat said he would block the project if

local residents object to it.

The Wildlife Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand had been asked by the

governor to keep the monkey population under control.

It said it could sterilise 360 adult males in three months by sending in its

mobile animal clinic and a team of veterinarians.

It would use four types of cages: one for capturing monkeys, one for those

selected, one for performing the operation and another in which the neutered

males could recover.

The sterilised males would then be tattooed.

The foundation successfully completed a test case, neutering one adult male

on July 27.

The Nation, Prachuap Khiri Khan

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