News of raid on Thai sanctuary

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A large group of animals were seized last week from the Wildlife Friends

Thailand Rescue Center by Thai wildlife authorities. Their current location

is unknown. Earlier IPPL asked for protest letters to be sent to Thai

embassies worldwide. Please send letters (US postage 80 cents) to the

persons listed below requesting that the confiscated animals (more

information about them below) be returned to the Wildlife Friends Rescue

Center.

 

Message From Amy Corrigan of WFT

 

On behalf of the Wildlife Friends of Thailand, thank you to all those

who have expressed their support by writing letters to the Thai

Embassies.

 

It would also be great if everyone could write to the Minister of

Natural Resources and Environment and to the Prime Minister in Thailand.

 

The details are as follows:

 

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

 

Thank you!

 

---------------------WFT statement---------------photos of raid available

from IPPL

 

The fourteen animals taken from the rescue centre were just numbers to the

Thai officials who simply came in with a " quota " to fill. Disregarding the

fact that social and family groups would be torn apart, they came in, picked

the animals that were easiest to catch, and turned the lives upside down of

the following intelligent, sensitive, unique individuals....

 

Pom the six month old Malayan sun bear was brought into the centre aged only

two weeks old. She was hand reared by dedicated staff and volunteers and has

grown into a beautiful, gentle young bear. Apart from the first couple of

weeks of her life when we do not know what happened to her (no doubt her

mother was killed and she was taken from the forest to be sold in the

illegal wildlife trade), Pom has known nothing but kind treatment and has

had a life free from fear. She has never been alone, always being looked

after first by people and then living together with Pinda her playmate

together under the watchful eye of the older bears at the centre. The sight

of her frantically trying to escape from that small, rusty cage as the truck

drove away will haunt us forever.

 

Pumpkin the sun bear came to the centre as a cub who had been trapped and

taken from the forest, the scar from the snare remains with him to this day.

He was very wild at first, understandably terrified of people and it has

taken many months but his trust has gradually been won over. At the centre

he has been living in a large open enclosure with his four companions,

thoroughly enjoying life. On the day of the raid he was forcefully torn away

from the life he had settled into; his cries were deafening as he was

carried away. Once in the moving cage he desperately threw himself from side

to side, the fear he was experiencing was obvious. First taken from the

forest he was born in by poachers, now again taken from his home by people

who are meant to be protecting wild animals, the same people who actually

donated Pumpkin to us in the first place.

 

Leo, the strong handsome Assamesse macaque, so cruelly tormented and

brutally wrestled to the ground during the capture, had made remarkable

progress since his arrival at the centre several months ago. This once

highly stressed, aggressive individual had calmed down a great deal and was

finally ready to be introduced to other macaques. The ordeal he must now be

going through will no doubt reignite his stress behaviour and aggression

 

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,

seldom letting go of each other, they have become a lot more at ease and

playful since being at the centre. After being taken from their enclosure

they clung to each other for support and comfort. Our biggest fear is that

these inseparable little ones will be separated now that they are at the

Forestry centre.

 

Thelma the stump tailed macaque was rescued from a miserable life chained up

alone. She had recently been introduced to other stump tailed macaques and

was finding her place in the group and seems to have been relishing the

companionship that she has been denied for the whole of her previous captive

life When she was taken from the group and put in the moving cage she

immediately started biting her arms and legs and continued this behaviour

the whole time after being loaded on the truck. The chance is that now she

is all alone again and returning to the self mutilation that she exhibited

when she first arrived.

 

Tarzan, the gentle giant of a pig tailed macaque, was rescued from a

miserable life in a small cage at a temple together with his companion, a

small, long tailed macaque with severe behavioural problems. The two had

been together for many years, Tarzan acting as her protector. Although so

big, Tarzan was obviously so terrified during his capture by the Forestry

officials, who thought it was funny to poke him with sticks while he

desperately showed him his submissive face, pleading with them not to hurt

him.

 

Fergus is a highly stressed long tailed macaque who hates people; we can

only imagine the trauma he has been through in his life. The capture of

Fergus took so long that by the end of it he was exhausted and severely

traumatized. This can only have increased his dislike and fear of people and

everything achieved in calming him down since he arrived will have been

lost.

 

Joe the young long tailed macaque was torn from his mother and baby brother

by Forestry officials on the day of the raid. From the moment he was taken

from his family his calls to his mother filled the air and as the truck

drove away we could still hear his pleading cries. Sitting in a small cage

on the back of the truck whilst chaos was breaking out around him, he just

stared back at the place that had been his home the past few months and

where he had finally found peace living with his family.

 

Wiggy the female stump tailed macaque, an ex temple monkey, was forcefully

separated from her family group, suffering an injury to her hand in the

struggle as the Forestry officials tried to catch her. She had been

desperately trying to protect the younger members of the group as they were

being harassed by Forestry officials.

 

Georgie and Lulu, two young, highly social long tailed macaques, also

ex-temple monkeys, were chased around the cage before being pulled apart and

put in separate cages.

 

Prince a large long tailed macaque was caught using excessive force as he

was desperately trying to protect his family. Again he was separated from

other members of his group after being captured and crammed into a small

cage.

 

Gary a young long tailed macaque was placed screaming in a cage after his

stressful capture. Placed in a moving cage next to a much bigger macaque, it

was not long before he was bitten, resulting in a badly bleeding tail.

 

It is not just the lives of the animals taken that have been shattered; the

ones left behind have been deeply affected too.

 

Every night we hear Pinda the sun bear alone in her night enclosure, crying

for her companion Pom, her playmate since they were both small cubs.

 

Maggie the female macaque has not stopped frantically running around her

enclosure desperately looking for her baby Joe.

 

Jane, Tarzan's lifelong companion is getting even more severely stressed

without her only source of comfort.

 

All of these animals have been rescued from situations of suffering and

neglect at the hands of people. At the rescue centre they have been allowed

to form social bonds with others of their own kind and live in peaceful

surroundings, a safe life free from stress and human exploitation.

 

And now the very officials whose task it is to protect them in the first

place have betrayed them once again.

 

These animals deserve so much more.

 

 

 

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman

International Primate Protection League

POB 766

Summerville SC 29484, USA

Ph. 843-871-2280: Fax: 843-871-7988: www.ippl.org

 

" Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because

we build cars and buildings and start wars etc...and

all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish

and play around. Dolphins believe that they are

smarter for exactly the same reasons. "

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