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WILDLIFE POACHING
Two forest rangers killed in gun battle with tiger hunters
JANJIRA PONGRAI
THE NATION



TWO FOREST rangers were killed and two others seriously injured in the latest fierce gun battle in Tak with a group of tiger hunters.

TAK: -- The latest loss has raised the number of casualties among men hired to protect against wildlife poaching and tree cutting. Since 2009, 42 forest rangers have been killed on duty and 48 others injured, 22 of them seriously, according to statistics from the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.

The hunters were believed to be members of a Hmong hilltribe gang active in the Thungyai Naresuan and Huai Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuaries in Tak's Umphang district.

The fatal armed clash took place on Thursday night in the eastern section of Thungyai Naresuan. The forest rangers, assisted by soldiers and local administrative officials, had followed the hunters since Monday after the carcass of a boar was found in the forest, according to the department's deputy director-general, Theerapat Prayurasiddhi. He said the carcass of the boar, killed by poisoning, was believed to be used as bait by the tiger hunters.

Theerapat said the hunters opened fire first and a gunfight ensued. Four forest rangers were seriously injured in the clash and were sent to Tak's Mae Sot Hospital. Two of them were pronounced dead - Boonsri Inthapanya, 51, and Anthong Ngamying, 22. The injured rangers were identified as Piriya Khaoluang, 35, and Sanan Ongkarn, 54.

One hunter was shot dead during the gunfight. His identity remained unknown.

The hunters, believed to number five, were heavily |armed with AK-47 assault |rifles and carbine automatic rifles. Four other hunters managed to flee the scene, and some of them were believed to have suffered injuries, according to Theerapat. He expressed his condolences to family members of the slain rangers, adding that they would get "full assistance" from the department.

The senior official also said the department had begun implementing a policy of buying life-insurance policies for its forest rangers, as part of increased employment benefits.

The department has about 20,000 forest rangers.


-- The Nation 2013-09-14

[culicine]

42 have been killed since 2009? I didn't know forest rangers faced such perils. And if the government is serious about this, why does it not employ trained units t deal with poachers...take the lot of these scumbags out. I hope the government is paying out large compensation to the families of the deceased. I doubt their salaries are very high and go to work each day not knowing if they will return or not.

[Credo]

Poaching is a very serious problem with so many endangered species.

Personally, when they catch them, they should be staked out alive in the forest and used for feed for tigers.

[Nooky2]

I really have feel strongly about his one.

If Thailand has a helicopter gunship, which I doubt, use that to back up the the forest rangers. To hell with capture. Then leave the bodies for cat food.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Nooky2

[hanno]

I have been to Huai Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuary and found the Rangers to be a dedicated and hard-working lot but they are few in number and the reserve is huge.

RIP guys

[jambco984]

Just down the road in Tak, different amphur. My family have spotted 8 tigers knocking about in the hills and in the fields near the houses. According to my wife's uncle he had seen one behind my grandmother's house. They threw fishing nets at them to spook them. They called poo yai ban and he called they police. They sent a commando unit according to the wife. No luck in finding them though.

Scary to think I like to have a sleep in a hammock under the trees when I go. No more sleeping though for me

[lee b]

Poaching is a very serious problem with so many endangered species.

Personally, when they catch them, they should be staked out alive in the forest and used for feed for tigers.

You got that right !

[Mousehound]

I met a ranger coming out of the jungle after he had spent a three day recy stint looking for poachers. He was fully kitted out - camo, radio and had an SLR. He was ex special forces trained and seemed very competent. However, these guys might do better with an AK47. The old SLR was OK in its time, in my opinion, but the AK is a great weapon for that kind of work and has some fire power.

I must say I had no idea that so many rangers had been killed. Not good.

[hanno]

Just down the road in Tak, different amphur. My family have spotted 8 tigers knocking about in the hills and in the fields near the houses. According to my wife's uncle he had seen one behind my grandmother's house. They threw fishing nets at them to spook them. They called poo yai ban and he called they police. They sent a commando unit according to the wife. No luck in finding them though.

Scary to think I like to have a sleep in a hammock under the trees when I go. No more sleeping though for me

I find that hard to believe. Not that there are Tigers, but that your family have spotted 8 of them. I know a guy who did Tiger research in Huai Kha Khaeng for 10 years; he saw Tigers twice during that time......

[DavoTheGun]

Why do they not put a small Army Base in these Parks, Same as some African States are doing, Nairobi, Kenya etc the have cut poaching down by 2 thirds, way to go!

[noitom]

Hunting tigers with AK-47s? Something is not right here. Killing Thai state sovereign rangers should be considered to be a critical act of war on the state. By not taking this seriously, Thailand downgrades the relevance of its forest rangers.

[SiggiCM]

The department has about 20,000 forest rangers.

this is a joke or?

[jambco984]

Just down the road in Tak, different amphur. My family have spotted 8 tigers knocking about in the hills and in the fields near the houses. According to my wife's uncle he had seen one behind my grandmother's house. They threw fishing nets at them to spook them. They called poo yai ban and he called they police. They sent a commando unit according to the wife. No luck in finding them though.

Scary to think I like to have a sleep in a hammock under the trees when I go. No more sleeping though for me

 

I find that hard to believe. Not that there are Tigers, but that your family have spotted 8 of them. I know a guy who did Tiger research in Huai Kha Khaeng for 10 years; he saw Tigers twice during that time......

Got the story now. It wasn't 8 tigers it was a man claimed 8 had been taken nearby over a short period. Apparently 2 near the family

[hanno]

Just down the road in Tak, different amphur. My family have spotted 8 tigers knocking about in the hills and in the fields near the houses. According to my wife's uncle he had seen one behind my grandmother's house. They threw fishing nets at them to spook them. They called poo yai ban and he called they police. They sent a commando unit according to the wife. No luck in finding them though.

Scary to think I like to have a sleep in a hammock under the trees when I go. No more sleeping though for me

I find that hard to believe. Not that there are Tigers, but that your family have spotted 8 of them. I know a guy who did Tiger research in Huai Kha Khaeng for 10 years; he saw Tigers twice during that time......

Got the story now. It wasn't 8 tigers it was a man claimed 8 had been taken nearby over a short period. Apparently 2 near the family

That I can believe. As Tigers have been pretty much wiped out in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, the poachers are turning their attention to Thailand.

[cup-O-coffee]

Not my department, but if you boyz and girlz are going to go after killers and murderers, you'd better pack your lunch.

What good is telling us of your woes and attempting to generate public support when it doesn't really matter what we think anyways?

Poachers have got their reasons, and I am sure you do as well, but maybe if poachers have a better way of life and a bit more hope instilled in their hearts when they woke up in the morning, they'd be more likely to hang up their guns and focus on more edifying livelihoods.

People do not naturally decide to become poachers. I am sure they don't love their job. I am even more sure that they would rather instead like to do something less exhaustive, and to be closer to their family and friends than to walk all over the countryside looking for a rare beast to shoot, and try to avoid getting eaten or shot by rangers into the bargain.

It is the economy that usually drive crime in an inverse proportion.

And in the event anyone wants to claim that poachers are bad people, and they have no respect for life, I would say that there are probably more rangers, police, judges, murderers, politicians, minivan and bus drivers, and the like who are more guilty of that sentiment than a rag tag bunch of tiger and elephant killers.

...'sImply a few thoughts to consider regarding this subject.

Edited September 14, 2013 by cup-O-coffee

[itchybum]

Shameful

[hanno]

Not my department, but if you boyz and girlz are going to go after killers and murderers, you'd better pack your lunch.

What good is telling us of your woes and attempting to generate public support when it doesn't really matter what we think anyways?

Poachers have got their reasons, and I am sure you do as well, but maybe if poachers have a better way of life and a bit more hope instilled in their hearts when they woke up in the morning, they'd be more likely to hang up their guns and focus on more edifying livelihoods.

People do not naturally decide to become poachers. I am sure they don't love their job. I am even more sure that they would rather instead like to do something less exhaustive, and to be closer to their family and friends than to walk all over the countryside looking for a rare beast to shoot, and try to avoid getting eaten or shot by rangers into the bargain.

It is the economy that usually drive crime in an inverse proportion.

And in the event anyone wants to claim that poachers are bad people, and they have no respect for life, I would say that there are probably more rangers, police, judges, murderers, politicians, minivan and bus drivers, and the like who are more guilty of that sentiment than a rag tag bunch of tiger and elephant killers.

...'sImply a few thoughts to consider regarding this subject.

Right, the same applies to drug pushers, thieves, and murderers.

[onflipflops]

Not my department, but if you boyz and girlz are going to go after killers and murderers, you'd better pack your lunch.

What good is telling us of your woes and attempting to generate public support when it doesn't really matter what we think anyways?

Poachers have got their reasons, and I am sure you do as well, but maybe if poachers have a better way of life and a bit more hope instilled in their hearts when they woke up in the morning, they'd be more likely to hang up their guns and focus on more edifying livelihoods.

People do not naturally decide to become poachers. I am sure they don't love their job. I am even more sure that they would rather instead like to do something less exhaustive, and to be closer to their family and friends than to walk all over the countryside looking for a rare beast to shoot, and try to avoid getting eaten or shot by rangers into the bargain.

It is the economy that usually drive crime in an inverse proportion.

And in the event anyone wants to claim that poachers are bad people, and they have no respect for life, I would say that there are probably more rangers, police, judges, murderers, politicians, minivan and bus drivers, and the like who are more guilty of that sentiment than a rag tag bunch of tiger and elephant killers.

...'sImply a few thoughts to consider regarding this subject.

I agree with you that most poachers wouldn't choose their 'profession' if they had better opportunities, but not sure if that is true in this case. I've seen a few poachers in the jungle, on two occassions. On one occassion the two men ran off after noticing me, but on the other event a group of three was friendly enough to help me out after I got lost. These were local villagers that are in no way to compare with the gang that has shot these rangers. The poor local villagers are not going out there with AK47's; gangs carrying such serious arms are people that choose for this, obviously because there is relatively easy big money to be made. Because it's simply not as difficult as you think. In another post somebody mentioned a researcher that had only seen 2 tigers in many years of research, but the fact is usually that researchers are not out there every night waiting for a tiger to come; they have better things to do and use camera traps to do the job for them. And he has definitely captured more than 2 tigers on 'film' in so many years in HKK. If this same researcher would set up a hide along a known tiger trail, which you can find after searching for tracks, it's definitely possible to see a tiger every now and then. But even these poachers don't do that, why would they? They leave a poisoned wild boar and come back later.

I say it's easy, I do spend a lot of time in the jungles here, not passively waiting in hides, but just hiking/ driving around, and in this year alone I've had the chance to shoot 7 wild bears (both Malayan Sun Bear and Asiatic Black Bear), however I decide to shoot with my Nikon, but could have made more money when carrying an AK47. I'm in the wrong area for tiger, but I'm quite sure that if one spends this amount of time in the right area that it's definitely easier than working 6 days a week on an assembly line in one of the local factories. And quite sure it will bring in more money.

If they use poisoned bait, it will soon be done with the large predator population, even in one of the better preserved areas of the country like Thung Yai Naresuan - Huai Kha Kaeng. It's probably the only place where gangs are actively hunting tigers, as it's the only place where there's still a reasonable population left. A third or even half of the estimated wild tigers in Thailand live in this reserve.

The gangs are not the only problem, poor village hunters outnumber the organized gangs and therefore might anyway cause serious damage by killing mostly prey species of the larger predators while out gathering valuable woods.

But you are right that it's society/ economy that drives these people to these crimes. Thailand is growing too fast, everybody 'needs' an iPhone, but if you look at the wages of 90% of the Thais, they actually can't affort to have one. And that's just a phone. How about cars? For 90% of the Thais it's basically impossible to get a better paying job unless they get into any illegal activities. And in a country where saving face is so important, people want to take part in the economic growth and show the outside world what they have (not telling that it's all borrowed money).

In the end the main problem is not the poachers, but the people that want the tiger parts. Because indeed few people would go out hunting tigers if it was not paying that well. Those gangs would find a job as drug dealers and honestly I have no problem with drug dealers at all. Drugs is something some people choose to use, and they need to buy it from someone. It should stay illegal, because in that case it will be more profitable for the criminals, and they don't feel the need to go out poaching tigers, which I regard as a much more serious crime.

And your last point is true, and I've even heard rumours from insiders that even park rangers can be part of the problem. Even just simply passing through information where the next patrol is going to be. I've seen rangers fishing and gathering frogs inside the national parks. I know it's all regarded as a harmless act, and I too don't regard it to be that serious, but in a way it's not much different from going out and catching a big cat, elephant, gaur, or bear.

But what can you expect when the wages are this low. It's very sad that 2 have lost their lives for this, and 2 more are injured. It's surprising that even with the low punishments for poaching, that the poachers decide to shoot and kill for it.

It's far from a life sentence like it is in Africa. But apparently the life of a ranger is not worth much to them even if it could avoid them from getting away from a few thousand baht fine.

Hopefully the government will support the families, and declare war with poaching. And not stopping with just catching the perpetrators, but go the step further to catch the policemen or politicians that are might be the middle men dealing in these valuable endangered species.

Hopefully the poisoned tiger penis delivered to the hi-so Chinese will poison the buyer.

Edited September 14, 2013 by onflipflops

[h90]

42 have been killed since 2009? I didn't know forest rangers faced such perils. And if the government is serious about this, why does it not employ trained units t deal with poachers...take the lot of these scumbags out. I hope the government is paying out large compensation to the families of the deceased. I doubt their salaries are very high and go to work each day not knowing if they will return or not.

let some special forces from the army help them, rotate them every 3 month. Everyone would benefit and the costs would be zero.

[yakster]

Last year we were in Phou Wiang National Park when 5 men with weapons approached. I was a bit nervous to say the least, but they picked up on this and got their I.D.'s out to put us at ease. They had been on patrol looking for illegal wood smugglers. They spent some time explaining what they did and why. Guess the point is there are a lot of dedicated people who do care out there and indeed they put their lives on the line. My respects to the fallen.

[circusman]

Just down the road in Tak, different amphur. My family have spotted 8 tigers knocking about in the hills and in the fields near the houses. According to my wife's uncle he had seen one behind my grandmother's house. They threw fishing nets at them to spook them. They called poo yai ban and he called they police. They sent a commando unit according to the wife. No luck in finding them though.

Scary to think I like to have a sleep in a hammock under the trees when I go. No more sleeping though for me

I find that hard to believe. Not that there are Tigers, but that your family have spotted 8 of them. I know a guy who did Tiger research in Huai Kha Khaeng for 10 years; he saw Tigers twice during that time......

I agree a improbable figure 8. Maybe saw the same cat 8 times?

[pacovl46]

I guess it's about time to send in some badass special hit squad to get rid of the poachers!

[pacovl46]

Not my department, but if you boyz and girlz are going to go after killers and murderers, you'd better pack your lunch.

What good is telling us of your woes and attempting to generate public support when it doesn't really matter what we think anyways?

Poachers have got their reasons, and I am sure you do as well, but maybe if poachers have a better way of life and a bit more hope instilled in their hearts when they woke up in the morning, they'd be more likely to hang up their guns and focus on more edifying livelihoods.

People do not naturally decide to become poachers. I am sure they don't love their job. I am even more sure that they would rather instead like to do something less exhaustive, and to be closer to their family and friends than to walk all over the countryside looking for a rare beast to shoot, and try to avoid getting eaten or shot by rangers into the bargain.

It is the economy that usually drive crime in an inverse proportion.

And in the event anyone wants to claim that poachers are bad people, and they have no respect for life, I would say that there are probably more rangers, police, judges, murderers, politicians, minivan and bus drivers, and the like who are more guilty of that sentiment than a rag tag bunch of tiger and elephant killers.

...'sImply a few thoughts to consider regarding this subject.

Awwwww the poor guys have no choice but to go poaching tigers! Are you delusional?? They're out there killing tigers because of the big dollars a tiger brings on the black market and they don't give one flying *&^% about wether or not they have to kill someone to go about their business. These people are low-life scum and I hope they catch and kill them all!!!

[pedro01]

You can buy Tiger skins/feet not far from Khao San Rd.

Not hidden at all - right there on stalls in the street.

TiT - there will be no tigers left soon. On the bright side, the food and hookers are cheap.

[chrisrazz]

The problem here is with the demand. If supply is restricted ie, rare and illegal, there is demand because the product is rare and restricted, this equals $$$. Poachers are nothing more than opportunists. The traders and ultimately the end users are the real culprits. In the case of tiger parts, they would have to be rich, connected, educated and powerful. Thus, they ought to know better. The fact that 2 rangers have died doing thier job, probably provides greater value and self satisfaction to the collector/user who is clearly bankrupt of any morals or scruples. They are not the people prepared to put their lives on the line either in procurement or law enforcement. They are the people who should be hunted down, shot, skinned and dissected.

[peecee]

Not my department, but if you boyz and girlz are going to go after killers and murderers, you'd better pack your lunch.

What good is telling us of your woes and attempting to generate public support when it doesn't really matter what we think anyways?

Poachers have got their reasons, and I am sure you do as well, but maybe if poachers have a better way of life and a bit more hope instilled in their hearts when they woke up in the morning, they'd be more likely to hang up their guns and focus on more edifying livelihoods.

People do not naturally decide to become poachers. I am sure they don't love their job. I am even more sure that they would rather instead like to do something less exhaustive, and to be closer to their family and friends than to walk all over the countryside looking for a rare beast to shoot, and try to avoid getting eaten or shot by rangers into the bargain.

It is the economy that usually drive crime in an inverse proportion.

And in the event anyone wants to claim that poachers are bad people, and they have no respect for life, I would say that there are probably more rangers, police, judges, murderers, politicians, minivan and bus drivers, and the like who are more guilty of that sentiment than a rag tag bunch of tiger and elephant killers.

...'sImply a few thoughts to consider regarding this subject.

I find your sentiments hard to swallow; there's big money for tiger carcasses and I bet these guy's make a good living from poaching anything worth the effort. Some rag tag band can't do this sort of work without international connections to the movers and shakers of this disgusting trade.

[cloudhopper]

Don't worry the police are on it -

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/615515-row-over-thai-top-cop-on-national-park-hunting-trip/?hl=+police%20+hunting%20+trip

[connda]

The tiger hunters haven't killed all the wild tigers already? I thought Thailand was pretty much devoid of wildlife. Think about it: when was the last time you saw road kill that wasn't a dog or a cat...maybe an occasional snake.

[hanno]

The tiger hunters haven't killed all the wild tigers already? I thought Thailand was pretty much devoid of wildlife. Think about it: when was the last time you saw road kill that wasn't a dog or a cat...maybe an occasional snake.

You are quite wrong, there is actually plenty of wildlife in some of the National Parks; National Parks that are way better protected than in Laos, Vietnam, or here in Cambodia.

[jambco984]

After getting a bee in my bonnet about this we had a catch up with “Uncle Knob Head“ this evening, every family has an Uncle Knob Head

He reckons that lots of new trucks he's never seen before and people he's not got a clue about are all over his land and beyond that looking for this tiger or 2 or 8 LOL.

Bad news indeed