Appeal to Thai PM to Act on Orangutan Custody Battle

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6 August 2004

 

H.E. Mr. Thaksin Shinawatrathe Prime Minister of

ThailandGovernment House

Thanon Nakhon FathomDusit Bangkok 10300 Thailand H.E.

Mr. Suwit KhunkittiMinister of Natural Resources and

Environment (MoNRE)92 Phaholyothin RoadSaphan

KwaiBangkok 10400 Thailand

 

 

 

 

Dear Sirs,

 

PLEASE STOP ILLEGAL CUSTODY OF ORANGUTAN IN THAILAND

(AND RETURN THOSE ORANGUTAN TO THE WILD IMMEDIATELY)

 

We are writing on behalf of Borneo Orangutan Survival

Foundation-BOSF, Indonesian Animal Rescue Center

Network-IARCN, and ProFauna Indonesia-PFI which are

three animal conservation organizations in Indonesia.

We would like to strongly urge for the Thailand

Government to stop the illegal custody, and

tormenting, of more than one hundreds Orangutan (Pongo

pygmaeus) from Indonesia in Safari World, Bangkok and

another Zoos, Farms and Parks in Thailand for the

following reasons:

 

· Many parties understand that the origin of

the Orangutan at those places with regards to whether

they are captive bred (as defined by CITES) is

unclear. Safari World was raided in November 2003 by

Forestry Police and the Department of National Parks,

Wildlife and Plants (DNP) Thailand on suspicion of

holding illegally obtained wildlife. During this raid,

147 Orangutans were found at the park; only 46 were

registered with the authorities. However, Safari World

still declare all animals captive born at their

premises, a matter we find impossible due to the great

number of very young individuals and the small amount

of adults.

· In the meantime both the Director-General of

the Indonesian Forest Protection and the Minister of

Forestry have intensively contacted the Forestry

Authorities in Thailand to request the return of those

illegal-suspected Orangutans to Indonesia. If returned

to Indonesia, all of the animal will then be

transported to a special rehabilitation center for

Orangutans on the island of Borneo, where they will be

returned to the wild after it. Such a massive

collaborative-action between the two countries

involving the confiscation, repatriation and release

back to the wild of great apes will be the first time

ever in history. This would be a huge blow to the

illegal trafficking of endangered wildlife prevention,

and hopefully an example to the whole world that the

exploitation of wildlife stops here.

A delegation of Indonesian officials went to Safari

World in the fourth week of July 2004 and found only

less than 70 Orangutans. Even the number of infants

and their age distribution and their origins shows

that they could impossibly have been bred here. All

the Orangutans in the Safari World show were clearly

smuggled from the wild. This kind of Orangutan belong

to the Appendix I of CITES and may only be im/exported

under strict conditions. Therefore the CITES document

could not be given for this animals. According to

Article III, paragraph 2a, an export permit should

only be granted if the export is not detrimental to

the survival of the species. We can guarantee that

there are no such permits for exporting these animals

to any places in Thailand from the government

officials in Indonesia.

If some of the Orangutan are legally kept for breeding

in this park, before their breeding season, all of the

Orangutan will be exhibited. As a result the main

purpose of keeping Orangutan in Safari World is to

keep them for commercial purposes. According to CITES

Resolution Conf.5.10 Annex, paragraph e), " any

importation for captive breeding purposes must be

aimed as a priority at the long term protection of the

affected species as required in Res. Conf.2.12 " . Also,

according to Article III, paragraph 3b, the Managing

Authority of importing country should consider if the

facility is suitable for keeping and caring about

animals.

Repots of the press says that these Orangutan in

Safari World and other places are being dressed up and

made to perform a Thai boxing match. As Orangutan

status are Appendix1 CITES, those animals must not be

used for any commercial and fun purpose (what is the

only intended purpose in this case) included exposing

in the Zoos, Farms nor Parks. Animals are not

commodities to be kept and doing the show, especially

wild animals that have to live out several decades in

captivity.

We also understand that Thailand signed CITES in 1983

and as a signatory have very specific rules and

regulations as to the “disposal” of illegal wildlife.

First port of call should be the country of origin

where the animals can be re-patriated, where already

managed by the government of Indonesia. This is a

specific requirement of the treaty that Thailand is

obligated to fullfil. All of the Orangutans in those

places come from Indonesian and therefore the Thai

Government should have contacted the Indonesian

Authorities in order to return, rehabilitate, and

release them to the wild.

Both Thailand and Indonesia are pursuing a more

vigorous program now in dealing with illegal trade in

animals. It would be very worthwhile to have an

exchange program between both country involving

exchange of information on known traders, identifying

sources of smuggled wildlife, synchronizing techniques

for recording data and dealing with protocols. All of

these efforts are important to avoid damaging the

reputation of the two countries that may possibly hurt

the tourist trade.

We urgently request for the Thailand government to

take a progressive stand and not allow in any reasons

of the illegal custody of these Orangutan and curb

such cases in future. We also urge IUCN and CITES

Secretariate that these laws should be strictly

enforced. Enforcing existing laws to the fullest are

very essential in order to put an end to the both

country's illegal animal trade.

 

We stand with other animal protection groups in

Indonesia and world-wide, in the hope of receiving

positive news on this matter. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

Your Sincerely,

 

1. Dr. Willie Smits (BOSF - Chairman)

 

www.orangutan.org

 

Phone: (62)(81) 620 2577

 

2. Faisal H. Fuad (IARCN - Coordinator)

 

www.jaringanpps.org

 

Phone: (62)(81) 5862 34387

 

3. Rosek Nursahid (PFI - Chairperson)

 

www.profauna.or.id

 

Phone: (62)(81) 5550 1593

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C.c:

 

- Mr. Somchai Piensstarporn, Director General

Department of National Parks and Wildlife Ministry of

National Resources and Environment

 

- Mr. Somsak Thepsutin, Chair of Tourism

Authority of Thailand

 

- Mr. Atchara Seriputra, Ambassador of

Thailand to the Indonesia Royal Thai Embassy

 

- Mr. Muhammad Prakosa, Minister, Forestry

Department of Indonesia

 

- Mr. Koes Saparjadi, Directur General of

Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Forestry

Forestry Department of Indonesia

 

- Secretariat to the CITES, Geneva,

Switzerland

 

- IUCN - The World Conservation Union

Headquarters, Switzerland

 

- IUCN Asia Regional Office, Bangkok,

Thailand

 

- CITES Office, Royal Thai Forest Department,

Bangkok, Thailand

 

- Mr. Edwin Wiek, Director of Wildlife

Friends of Thailand, Petchaburi, Thailand

 

- TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, UK

 

- TRAFFIC East Asia - Regional Office,

Central, Hong Kong

 

 

 

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