Chiang Mai: Wildlife First Aid Clinic to save lives of endangered species

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Wildlife First Aid Clinic to save lives of endangered species

By Digital Media

CHIANG MAI: - A growing number of wild animals in Thailand are hunted, captured and smuggled for sale every year. Some are seized by the authorities before being smuggled to other countries. Unfortunately, many of the endangered animals were hurt and finally died without even being rescued.

Recently, the country's first Wildlife First Aid Clinic has been established in the northern province of Chiang Mai by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in order to help these endangered animals and ultimately return them into the wild.

At the clinic, veterinarians must be very careful when providing treatment to the animals, for even though some of them are of small sizes, they have the native instincts of wildlife which might not be easily tamed. Anti-anxiety medication may be needed to keep them at bay.

In a recent case, officials from Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary in Chiang Mai took two civet cats to receive medical treatment at the Wildlife Clinic after they were found to have been hurt and fatigued.

"Wild animals brought here are dull maybe because of the changes of places where they live. If they're given saline solution or antibiotics, they'll become stronger," said Rattana Sariwongchan, a vet at the Wildlife First Aid Clinic under National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department in Chiang Mai province.

The number of wild animals hunted and smuggled in the country is worrisome. Over 15,000 animals have been seized by local authorities recently, many of them wounded and who later died.

More than 500 animals have already been brought for treatment at the Wildlife First Aid Clinic, which has opened recently. Treatment results are generally satisfactory.

"I think if we can set up this kind of clinic all over the country, it will help hundreds or thousands of lives of animals. Here, we provide them services as basic as health checkups. A lot of animals brought here are snakes, turtles, birds, bear, deer and other animals," said Jongklai Worapongsathorn, director of the wildlife conservation unit in Chiang Mai province.

Apart from giving general medical care to wild animals, the clinic also provides other services ranging from teeth cleaning and scaling to doing an autopsy.

The Wildlife First Aid Clinic together with a special operations centre to assist the public on wildlife matters set up a hotline number 1362 in order to find and help wild animals that are lost, abandoned, or hunted. The endangered species will be sent to the Wildlife First Aid Clinic to receive treatment before being transferred to different wildlife breeding centres and then released into the wild respectively. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-07-18

[Trentham]

I come from a small town in central Victoria in Australia. If I go for a short drive around our town during the day I will see literally hundreds or even thousands of birds of many species - magpies, 3 or 4 species of parrots, cockatoos, wild ducks, kookaburras and so on. I might see a few kangaroos and the occasional echidna. At night on the same drive I will see dozens of kangaroos, wallabies, 2 or 3 species of possum, rabbits and an occasional fox[although the last two are feral and not welcome] and owl or two will swoop into my headlight beams.

Alas, I spend a lot of time in the province of Nan and in the mountains and jungle there. Night or day I almost never see a wild animal and I can see more bird life in bangkok than Nan. I know the locals some being hill-tribes, and they eat everything. I saw them carrying home an Asian black bear one day. They were going to eat it. They had captured live 3 of its cubs and they told me they will raise them to eat too.

From my experience, the wildlife of Thailand will continue to diminish until the people are educated about the problem and perhaps too, that they are lifted out of their poverty which necessitates their consumption of their wildlife.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Seems a bit strange to locate the wildlife first aid clinic in an area of Thailand that has no wildlife of any kind.

Or is it just me thinking this?

Edited July 18, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[lee b]

good idea

[Trentham]

If we can introduce some beer drinking or sex into this topic we might be able to get a bit more feedback.

[Chicog]

If the Thais aren't eating them, they are selling them to the Chinese for exotic food or medicine, or parading them around tourist spots for idiot farang to have their photos taken, which pisses me off no end.

The Chinese in particular seem to think eating parts of rare animals will make their dicks bigger, but in actual fact it just makes them bigger dickheads.

[aussiebrian]

If they could start with just getting the parasites off Bangla Road, that everyday shove a slow loris in the face of almost every tourist that passes. These poor creatures, are pulled out from the trees, have their teeth ripped out and usually die of shock of from their poor handling and conditions. But I saw one happy tourist give the guy 500 baht for a few photos, they both looked happy. Must be good for the tourist industry, and the Thai economy. I told the tourist they were protected and he told me to mind my own business.