Thailand: Senators want animal import plan scrapped

May 21, 2005

NIGHT SAFARI / OPPOSITION MOUNTS

Senators want animal import plan scrapped

TUL PINKAEW

Senators will ask the government to abandon a plan to import hundreds of

exotic animals from Kenya to Chiang Mai's night safari park.

They will file a petition with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra insisting

the plan be scrapped.

The Senate environment committee, led by Kaewsan Atipho, criticised the

government's plan to import more than 300 animals, including elephants,

hippos, lions, rhinos and some other endangered species.

''Wild animals roaming the savanna wilderness should not be captured and put

into cages, especially ones that are forbidden under the Cites treaty,''

said Mr Kaewsan, referring to the 1989 Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species that regulates the wildlife trade.

The panel was also concerned about Thailand's move to offer Kenya US$1

million (40 million baht) to build an animal conservation centre in exchange

for the imported animals.

Thailand's proposal to trade mahouts and tigers for Kenya's native animals

has sparked howls of protest from conservationists and animals rights

groups. The opening of the night safari scheduled for Songkran had to be

postponed as a result.

Late last month the government tried to salvage the deal by sending a

negotiation team to Kenya.

Kenyan officials say the deal has since been revised to include mainly

zebras, giraffes and gazelles, and no rhinos or other endangered species.

However, Senator Niboon Shamshoum, a member of the Thai delegation, said

some endangered species were still on Thailand's wish list.

Pol Gen Banharn Ko-anantakul of the government's sustainable tourism liaison

office said the safari park would open once construction was complete and

the animals from Kenya had been moved in, probably around year-end.

Chiang Mai's night safari park, based on Singapore's night safari zoo, was a

project initiated by Mr Thaksin who claimed it would boost tourism in his

home province. The project, however, has faced stiff opposition from local

people who rely on groundwater for consumption. They fear the zoo would take

too much of their water, or contaminate it with animal droppings.

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