Chiang Mai Safari: Rare Animals On The Menu At Zoo

[csmith]

Same thing just happened with the opening of the new Hong Kong Disneyland .... they were going to serve Shark's Fin Soup .... public protests resulted in it being taken off the menu.

I bet the Chiangmai Night Safari changes their menu before Jan.

Incidently I am living within sight of the night Safari .... hope I'm not on the menu ... but I would like the idea of waking up in the morning with a girafe looking over the wall at the end of the garden ;-)

[awarrumbungle]

Time for some skepticsim.

How can they afford to serve all those endangered animals for only 4,500 baht?

Is this jing? or just another silly idea announced by some minister that pushed ahead of the official party anouncement line and just wanted to see his name in the paper?

[justaskdan]

What? No barbecued Dolphin? I'm not paying 4500B unless I get some barbecued Dolphin!

Could someone please provide me a list of what meat is politically correct to farm, slaughter and eat and which is not.

They serve fish on the menu at the SanFrancisco Aquarium, but it's OK because they are sustainable farmed food. Dogs seem abundant here. Sounds like a tasty proposition to me. Snake, crocodile, no problem with that either. I have seen a lot of whale meat for sale in Korea. Cheap too.

If you don't like it don't go. If you really don't like it move to Iceland. Opps I think I saw whale meat there as well.

[ben01]

Time for some skepticsim.

How can they afford to serve all those endangered animals for only 4,500 baht?

you won't recieve the whole animal for b4500!, the ozzies have been serving up some of these types for years, plus it will only work on supply and demand. iIcertainly wont be demanding it.

[Unpredictable]

This is just wrong, we need to preserve these animal not go feeding on them, we dont want to see these animals only in pictures and if we have ppl feasting on them then not very long from today we will only be showing our kids pictures of these animals.

[Tomissan]

Dog meat is quite nice if its cooked properly. I can't see that dog meat on menus is a big deal. As for eating endangered species for THB4,500, at that price I think we would be looking at copies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What ever happened to the 'buckets for dogs'??? Two, maybe three years ago, pick-up trucks with a large cage built on the back used to drive through our village. They of course had loud speakers and lots of black buckets on top. They would trade one bucket for a dog and two buckets if it was a black dog. There were always several dogs barking away inside the cage.

I can only assume that this practice will be borne again shipping the dogs to Chiang Mai instead of Sakorn Nakon. Unfortunately for the diner, he has no idea what the live dog looked like; hairless, mange, etc. Vegetarians Unite

[Crossy]

I always thought that the meat of carnivores (lions, tigers etc.) was stringy and not particularly good to eat. They also breed slowly so it's not practical to farm them. A non-starter IMHO.

Cows, horses, pigs etc eat veggies, breed fast and are good eating, so I assume that giraffe, zebra etc would also be just fine.

Dog is an aquired taste (had it in Korea, not impressed).

Edited November 17, 2005 by Crossy

[NedKelly]

I have only a few words to say about this........

.........'you've got to be F~%@$##ing kidding' !!!!!

I wrote to the TAT and asked for an official confirmation of this outrage......will post here if I get one !!

[george]

Excellent marketing. Excellent!

[astral]

Now were was that other thread about Thailand's image regarding

the import of Wild Life Animals...................

Edited November 17, 2005 by astral

[jomama]

Some people are:

Given to flights of fancy

Self-centered

Impatient

Unable to see cause and effect

Easily bored

Grandiose when possible

Able to eat new foods

My friend teaches kindergarten and told me about her students.

Humm…should be a new minister.

George Orwell lives.

[godforhire]

I saw a picture of Thaksin with a tiger cub in the newspaper today, probably taken just before the cub went into the cooking pot for Thaksin's lunch.

[Insight]

Obviously got the idea when visiting one of those up-market seafood places. Pick out the one you want as you're driving around....

Will they stick numbers on the animals? I've never been good with names anyhow.

[silk123]

oh oh, so them sick mange ridden soi dogs will be put on the menu when they keel over and die. How the politicians will laugh to see the foreigners eating them.

[Jai Dee]

Word is getting out quickly too...

This report is from Pravda:

Exotic animal meats on VIP menu at Thai zoo

08:32 2005-11-17

VIP guests at the grand opening of the night safari zoo in northern Thailand will not only get to see exotic animals, they'll get to taste them.

The Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo will have its official opening on New Year's Day, and the "Exotic Buffet" marking the event will include tiger, lion, elephant and giraffe, said Plodprasop Suraswadi, the director of the zoo project.

The VIP guest who pay 4,500 baht (US$110, Ђ95) for the buffet will have the privilege of tasting an exotic menu, ranging from dog meat from (Thailand's Sakhon Nakhon province) to lion meat from Africa.

Critics have lambasted the idea, saying that it will encourage wildlife trafficking in a country and region already notorious for smuggling tiger parts, bear claws and endangered species for Chinese delicacies, traditional medicines and pets.

Kenya said last week it will give Thailand 175 wild animals, including African buffalo, various species of antelope, zebra and giraffe, as a gift to strengthen relations, but conservationists voiced concern that Thailand does not have a good track record of wildlife management and conservation.

The project, based on Singapore's Night Safari Zoo, will have 2,000 animals of about 100 different species, AP reports.

[Noel]

On the flipside (may the flames begin)...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ahah, like your wildlife grilled, eh?

I wonder if McDonald's will be extending their range to include the 'Jumbo Burger' and 'Big Yak'?

[llewynx]

Schocking!

"According to Plodprasop, animals for the buffet would be imported daily and legally to the zoo."

Excuse me, but how can import of endangered species for the intention of killing and eating them be legal? Crocs, dogs, snakes, ok, but lions and tigers?

[Sangsom]

Truly schocking indeed.

How on earth can one promote a Night Safari to view rare wild animals in their natural surrounding and at the same time offering them as dinner in a restaurant in the same place.

The person who thought this out must have lost his brains! This will be widely critized all over the world and work against this Night Safari tremendously!

And beside the wild animals . . . dogs on the menu downright disgusting!

[Pattaya_Fox]

Exotic animals and Dogs on the menu at a Zoo??

Just what we all knew... Toxin has gone Bl**dy Barking!

[george]

Update:

Kenyan animals sent to Thai zoo may be eaten, say activists

NAIROBI: -- Kenyan wildlife conservationists reacted with shocked disbelief Thursday after reports that a Thailand zoo in a controversial wildlife swap with Kenya will offer game as part of an exotic buffet.

Media reports in Thailand Thursday quoted Plodprasop Suraswadi, the director of the Chiang Mai Zoo, as saying that the patrons can enjoy a pricey game buffet after game viewing when the park opens January 1st.

"We have been concerned about the animal welfare aspects throughout this deal as Thailand is globally known to have a dismal animal welfare record, and we are questioning how the Kenyan Wildlife Service gave the Chiang Mai project a clean bill of health," said Elizabeth Wamba of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

It is illegal to eat wildlife in restaurants in Kenya. Only commercially farmed crocodiles and ostriches are offered in eateries in the East African country.

"If it is illegal to eat a giraffe here, why would we want to send our giraffes to Thailand for that purpose?" added Wamba.

Kenya will export up to 137 wild animals to the Chiang Mai Night Safari Park, a pet project of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who recently visited Kenya to sign the deal.

It is not clear what type of animals the Kenyan government plans to offer Thailand, but the project's stated aims are to boost tourism in the Thai prime minister's home province of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

President Mwai Kibaki expressed the hope that Thailand would support the East African country's bid for a United Nations Security Council seat at the signing of the agreement with the Thai prime minister in Nairobi last week.

Richard Leakey, former head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, expressed shock at the new development in a deal he had strongly questioned.

"If these reports are true, the government should back down from this embarrassing deal immediately while they still can," he said, calling the development "outrageous, despicable."

"The government has yet to explain what these Kenyan animals are being sent to and what the end result of the transaction really is," added Leakey.

Questions directed to the Kenyan government remained unanswered in the capital Nairobi.

--DPA 2005-11-17

[tyznd]

I'm beginning to think LOS stands for Land of Stupidity. Reading crap like this makes it easier to understand some of the dumbass laws these morons pass.

If you didn't have the poontang and low cost of living factors, there wouldn't be any other reason to live here. The air is polluted, the food is unhealthy, the roads are dangerous and the people are untrustworthy.

Forgetting the cliche "the grass is always greener" isn't there somewhere else in the world that is affordable, healthier and with more sensible locals to deal with?

[Hendrikus]

I have the impression that everything is eaten that has legs, other than tables and chairs. Not certain about the latter, though.

The consumption of humans is also not uncommon, worldwide.

http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/124_mummy.shtml

Regards.

[RDN]

..."If it is illegal to eat a giraffe here, why would we want to send our giraffes to Thailand for that purpose?" added Wamba......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Er, yes, indeed! But this really shows what the people running Chiang Mai zoo actually think about the animals in their care. Not a lot.

[Pattaya_Fox]

Chiang Mai....will soon be known worldwide as the land of barbarism.

I think that Toxin had better get the wheels in motion and arrange to back down from these ideas by calling them a misunderstanding....and that infact there will be no animals eaten on the Zoo premises.....but a small restaurant just outside the zoo will serve........

[bkkexplorer]

Excellent marketing. Excellent!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Absolutely right george, but probably unintentional. After all this outrage, and when they come to their senses, my guess is they'll take a few dishes off the menu...

[jaideeguy]

Totally stupid...............AMAZING THAILAND DOES IT AGAIN!!!!! They open a zoo, defination of zoo follows......

zoo [zoo]

(plural zoos)

n

1. park displaying live animals in enclosures: a park where live wild animals from different parts of the world are kept in cages or enclosures for people to come and see, and where they are bred and studied by scientists

2. chaotic place: a place characterized as being full of noisy obstreperous people creating confusion and disorder (informal)

[Mid-19th century. Shortening of zoological garden .]

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2004. © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

maybe the 2nd defination is more correct for this administration........

i guess that a 'night safari' means that you eat the animals that you view [or disturb while viewing?] ...

SHOOT THE CAPTIVE BEASTS AT NIGHT, WHILE THEY ARE BLINDED BY THE FLOOD LIGHTS!!! THEN COOK 'EM AND EAT 'EM!!!

definately bad judgement and hopefully will get the international bad press that they deserve.

[cgigate]

Very good!

the best meat is dog's!

[Johpa]

Of course they will go all the way to Nakhon Sawan to get the dog meat. 'Here lad (must be said with Thai accent) just nip down the wat and get us a couple of them mangy dogs, no one will know once i've skinned em'

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why go as far as Nakhon Sawan when there are so many unemployed Akha around Chiang Mai? I can certainly attest to their skills in preparing canine meat dishes.

[Scott]

This is truly sad. It's not that I am against eating certain animals--although I won't. It has to do with a whole host of things all the way from disease prevention to how/where these animals are raised to the method of slaughter.

It's taken many countries years and years to stop the slaughter of their wild animals (or at least control the killing). Now we have the encouragement of "trying new things."

I can only guess that he is trying to attract the wealthier strata of Chinese society because most westerners would not be impressed with this type of food. And, it isn't like it's some sort of a tradition. It's a gimmick.

[Canadianvisitor]

<snip> original long post deleted. RDN

I think I will spend my holiday elsewhere.

I cannot support any country where this type of archaic, ignorant,

destructive behaviour is condoned.

The fact that there are no animals left in the jungles is bad enough.

I am ashamed of Thailand and surprised by even the fact that

someone thought it was a good idea.

Horrible press will follow, protests will come, this is just bad.

Edited November 17, 2005 by RDN