Confiscated Wildlife In Captivity

[Kan Win]

Confiscated wildlife in captivity.

As a result of animal trafficking, the Thai government is now providing home and care for over 10,000 confiscated wildlife and other animals abandoned or left by their owners.

The Foster Parents for Wild Animals in Wildlife Breeding Centres project has been launched to respond to the rising demand of food and medical supplies for these animals.

At Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Research Station in Thailand’s Ratchburi province, southwest of Bangkok, some 10 Bengal tigers are cared for by civil servants. They were smuggled and later confiscated by prosecuting officers.

Despite being fed daily with a quite amount of red meat, the food is not enough for the tigers.

Generally, as the largest carnivore, an adult tiger devours around 5kg of red meat for a full stomach. But here, officials can only provide each of the tigers 3kg of meat and chicken bones owing to a monthly limited budget, which is also distributed for other types of animals.

"Tiger food supplies cost around Bt8,800 (US$250) each animal in a month. What we lack now is the budget for the renovation of their cages and for their playing equipment so they could clean their talons or teeth,” said Banpot Maleehuan, chief of Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Research Station.

The station is now responsible for about 700 animals, including orang-utans, bears, hornbills, and other animals left by their owners, and this costs it around Bt250,000 (over US$7,000) a month for just the animal nursery.

Such an insufficient budget is posing a serious problem on all 23 wildlife breeding centres nationwide, where more than 10,000 seized wild animals are being sheltered.

Each year, the government must authorise a budget of over Bt23 million (US$657,142) just for this, which is still not enough to properly raise the animals.

What’s even more of concern is that officials cannot return the poor animals to the wild, as they are already used to being raised by humans and can no longer adapt themselves to live in the jungle.

This seem-to-be-forever burden of the government was the reason why the Foster Parents for Wild Animals in Wildlife Breeding Centres project was set up recently.

"The funds we receive from the project will be for animals’ supplementary food and their medical supplies," said veterinarian Laksana Prasittichai of the Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Research Station.

Although it can only be a temporary solution for the time-being, related agencies believe such project will at least help the government in terms of all costs’ reduction.

If the public participated in the project, they also hope environmental awareness would be raised among them and the idea of wildlife conservation instilled in them to further encouragement a decrease in animal smuggling.

If you are interested in helping raise wild animals, you can donate some money in one go, or with a regular monthly contribution via Bangkok’s Wildlife Conservation Office at +66 (0) 2579-8273.

Not only does the donation extend the animals’ lives for further breeding, but the wildlife population also increases as a result of the return of their newborn babies to Thailand’s forest ecosystem. (TNA)

MCOT.Net

Yours turly,

Kan Win