Thai zoos defend illegal orangutan deals

[Guest guest]

Color me disgusted! Shirley

 

 

From the Nation, Bangkok, Thailand

 

600 protected birds seized from house in Bangkok

 

Published on Nov 26, 2003

 

Forestry Police yesterday confiscated about 600 birds, many of them

protected species, from a house in Bangkok.

 

The birds were raised and kept illegally in overcrowded cages under the

care of Chang and Thongyoon Boriboon, who received Bt5,000 a month in wages

from house owners Wong and Suchada Puaprasert, police said.

 

Wong and Suchada were not present during the raid led by Forestry Police

Deputy Commander Chatkanok Kheawsongsaeng, who said he had received a tipoff.

 

The raid uncovered several species of birds including lovebirds,

silver-eared mesias and cockatoos. Dozens of the birds were found dead in

the cages, apparently as a result of poor living conditions.

 

Chatkanok said the house owners would be charged with possessing protected

animals and smuggling in foreign birds without paying duties.

 

Chang told police that the birds would usually be sold at the Chatuchak

weekend market.

 

Meanwhile, zoo operators across the country plan to lodge complaints with

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa tomorrow

(Thursday) over the Forestry Police's recent raids at several of their

compounds.

 

" We are in a difficult situation, " said Zoological Park Organisation

director Sopon Damnui.

 

Zoo operators were portrayed as wrongdoers involved in illegal wildlife

trade by the raids despite the fact that most of them were animal lovers,

he said.

 

Sopon said that most zoo operators had reported the wild animals in their

possession to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant

Conservation during the amnesty period. The amnesty, which pardoned all

owners who made declarations, ended on September 9.

 

" The problem is the department has not yet given us any licence to own

those animals while the Forestry Police step up their crackdown

efforts, " Sopon said.

 

Safari World is in hot water after a raid on its compound last Saturday

found over 100 orangutans, which is a protected species in Indonesia and

cannot be exported.

 

The zoo had reported it owned 44 orangutans. But last Tuesday it updated

that number to 116.

 

Sopon said the zoo might have bought the baby orangutans two years ago from

Indonesians who reportedly sold the animals when their country suffered bad

forest fires that killed the orangutans' mothers.

 

" I think the purchases were made solely to save the orangutans' lives, "

Sopon said.

 

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, Web: www.ippl.org

 

" He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt.

He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord

would suffice. "

--Albert Einstein