600 Protected Birds Seized From House In Bangkok

[george]

600 protected birds seized from house in Bangkok

BANGKOK: 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, silvereared 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.

--Agents 2003-11-26