Two Hyenas Break Loose From Chiang Mai Night Safari

[george]

Two Hyenas break loose from Chiang Mai Night Safari

CHIANG MAI: -- Two Hyenas broke loose from Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai on Tuesday and the zoo authority has announced it would give Bt20,000 reward for anyone who can bring back the animals.

Nikom Putta, a coordinator of Northern Wildlife Protection Foundation said on Thursday so far, one Hyena was found in a garbage pit in a village on Wednesday and already brought back to the zoo.

Therefore another Hyena is still at large, he said.

"This is not the first time that flesh-eating animals broke loose from the Night Safari Zoo. Previously a tiger broke loose from the zoo. They are very dangerous to us. The incidents reflected shortage of administration of the zoo authority," he said.

These showed that the animals' cages were not appropriate as the animals managed to escape, Nikom said, adding what is worried is the disease that the animals can spread to people.

--The Nation 2006-08-03

[Tywais]

Two Hyenas break loose from Chiang Mai Night Safari

announced it would give Bt20,000 reward for anyone who can bring back the animals.

Doubt if that will cover the medical bill of anyone trying to grab hold of one.

Let's see now, if they get into our moo bahn will they be called soi hyenas?

[Minburi]

7-11

Food special

Two Hyena hotdogs for 99 baht

[george]

Update:

Chiang Mai Nigh Safari denies hyenas get loose

CHIANG MAI: -- A senior official of the Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai denied Thursday that two hyenas have broken loose from the zoo.

Supoj Methapiwat, director of the animal management division of the zoo, was responding to allegations by Nikom Putta, a coordinator of Northern Wildlife Protection Foundation.

Nikorn said earlier Thursday that the zoo authority has announced it would give Bt20,000 reward for anyone who can bring back the animals.

Nikorn said that so far, one Hyena was found in a garbage pit in a village on Wednesday and already brought back to the zoo. He said another Hyena is still at large, he said.

"This is not the first time that flesh-eating animals broke loose from the Night Safari Zoo. Previously a tiger broke loose from the zoo. They are very dangerous to us. The incidents reflected shortage of administration of the zoo authority," he said.

These showed that the animals' cages were not appropriate as the animals managed to escape, Nikom said, adding what is worried is the disease that the animals can spread to people.

But Supoj said no hyenas had ever broken free from the zoo. He admitted that a grey wolf had escaped from the zoo a month ago when it was put on show.

Supoj said villagers had been informed that the grey wolf was not a dangerous animal and the zoo had provided tools for recapturing the animal to villagers.

Supoj said the animal captured by the villagers as mentioned by Nikorn was not a hyena but was a wild fox, which did not escape from the zoo either.

--The Nation 2006-08-03

[sriracha john]

well...well... Another feather in the cap of Chiang Mai Night Safari's reputation:

At least, this time, it wasn't a pair of adult tigers on the loose... if that's any consolation....

[lamphun]

Update:

Chiang Mai Nigh Safari denies hyenas get loose

This is no laughing matter and remember there are no cracks in the Night Safari carpark.

[toptuan]

adding what is worried is the disease that the animals can spread to people.

THAT'S what he's worried about????

What about someone's head getting torn off, or jugular vein ripped out? Do the bureaucrats think about that?

[toptuan]

Another evil thought comes to mind...

Zoo Coworker #1: shows Mr. Hyena (tiger, python, etc.) the exit door

Zoo Coworker #2: amazingly, finds missing zoo resident and collects the reward

Zoo Coworkers #1 & #2: each 10,000B richer

I know, only a farang would think of such shennanigans....

Been in Thailand Too Long,

TT

Edited August 3, 2006 by toptuan

[ChiangMaiMike]

Just saw Channel 3 reporting that a Gray Wolf is also missing from the Night Safari and has been for a month!

They ask that you give them a call if you see it <duh!>

[Tywais]

Just saw Channel 3 reporting that a Gray Wolf is also missing from the Night Safari and has been for a month!

They ask that you give them a call if you see it <duh!>

Either road kill or dinner by now.

[Pond Life]

Supoj said villagers had been informed that the grey wolf was not a dangerous animal and the zoo had provided tools for recapturing the animal to villagers.

Grey Wolf not dangerous eh ! Im no expert but I wouldnt fancy bumping into one.

Then again at least it'll put some new blood into the Soi Dog population.

[sriracha john]

Supoj said villagers had been informed that the grey wolf was not a dangerous animal and the zoo had provided tools for recapturing the animal to villagers.

Grey Wolf not dangerous eh ! Im no expert but I wouldnt fancy bumping into one.

Then again at least it'll put some new blood into the Soi Dog population.

What's that he says?? A Grey Wolf is missing from the Night Safari, as well?... and they aren't dangerous?

These guys beg to differ with that assessment:

How come they never seem to lose a turtle or a squirrel?? Why only these lethal beasts??

What's next in the menagerie to turn up missing?? A rabid Gorilla? A crazed Rhino? A hungry Grizzly Bear?

Edited August 3, 2006 by sriracha john

[Rinrada]

My place runs next to the Mae Takrai National Park (for me entrance FREE ) and the head man told me about this last year but cant let on to the Wife.....

..from the CM mail......

Dont think they have found them yet either....I LIKE Tigers.....but

Bengal tigers devour four cows in Mae On

Chiangmai Mail Reporters

Mae Tha village in Mae On, Chiang Mai is in the grip of tiger fever. On July 13, Prasert Intapuan, 46, the village headman of Mae Tha, told police that villagers’ cows had been killed by an unknown animal.

The villagers believe that the beast is a Bengal tiger and are living in fear.

As it is the rainy season the villager’s cattle are kept in Mae Takrai National Park.

One villager went to check on them and found four dead cows that had been savaged by a large beast, which he presumed had to be a Bengal tiger.

One of the owners of the dead animals said that in the middle of the night he heard one of the cows cry out. He shone his flashlight and saw two Bengal tigers attacking the animal. He was too afraid to do anything and sat and watched from a safe distance. The following morning he checked and found the four dead half-eaten animals. He then hurried out of the park and informed the village headman.

Arun Watanawat, head of Mae Takrai National Park, said that if it is the work of Bengal tigers as claimed by the villagers, the matter will need to be taken to the administration, and other relevant parties, to find a way to solve the problem.

Warnings have been issued to villagers to stay out of the area. The area borders Lampang and there are many wild animals in the area. The tigers may have been chased out of the park area of Hang Chat in Lampang, although there have been no tiger sightings for more than 10 years.

A posse of villagers is looking for the tigers, but all they have been able to find so far are tiger paw prints.

The district assistant of Mae On, Phoonsak Kaetsiri said that the villagers have not officially notified him.

They may believe that it is a personal matter and have decided to deal with the matter themselves. He warns the villagers not to harm the animals if they do find tigers as they are a protected species.

At the time of going to press, officers were preparing to enter the area to verify the matter...AND?

[sriracha john]

Ahhh.... saving the best, IMHO, for last... the absolutely beautiful tiger:

Male Bengal tigers measure 2.7 to 3.1 m (8.86 to 10.17 ft) in length, and weigh 200-295 kg (440-650 lb)

Tigers have the longest canine teeth of any living felid, approximately 10.16 cm (4 in) in large individuals.

Bengal tigers has been noted for their sheer power: One tiger has been observed to drag a gaur kill away that, later on, 13 men together could not move. As a gaur easily weighs 1 ton or more, the tiger had been able to drag something 5 times its own weight.

For those unfamiliar with a gaur, here's what they look like:

------------------------------------------------------------

Gosh, you guys up North have such an exciting environment ....

[kayo]

Two Hyenas break loose from Chiang Mai Night Safari

CHIANG MAI: -- Two Hyenas broke loose from Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai on Tuesday and the zoo authority has announced it would give Bt20,000 reward for anyone who can bring back the animals.

Nikom Putta, a coordinator of Northern Wildlife Protection Foundation said on Thursday so far, one Hyena was found in a garbage pit in a village on Wednesday and already brought back to the zoo.

Therefore another Hyena is still at large, he said.

--The Nation 2006-08-03

They´re probably laughing it off on a slowboat to India by now.

Hyena 1:

(laugh) (laugh) Right, we got simba, and that lot.

(laugh) (laugh) We´ve taken care of Babar now...

Hyena 2:

(laugh) (laugh) What´s next, Pa? Bengali Tigers?

And they both (laugh) (laugh) into the sunset!

Edited August 3, 2006 by kayo

[Nignoy]

Two Hyenas break loose from Chiang Mai Night Safari

CHIANG MAI: -- Two Hyenas broke loose from Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai on Tuesday and the zoo authority has announced it would give Bt20,000 reward for anyone who can bring back the animals.

Nikom Putta, a coordinator of Northern Wildlife Protection Foundation said on Thursday so far, one Hyena was found in a garbage pit in a village on Wednesday and already brought back to the zoo.

Therefore another Hyena is still at large, he said.

--The Nation 2006-08-03

They´re probably laughing it off on a slowboat to India by now.

Hyena 1:

(laugh) (laugh) Right, we got simba, and that lot.

(laugh) (laugh) We´ve taken care of Babar now...

Hyena 2:

(laugh) (laugh) What´s next, Pa? Bengali Tigers?

And they both (laugh) (laugh) into the sunset!

Or enjoying the pleasures of the night market they wold fit in nicely with the other exotic scavengers on the prowl Nignoy

[chanchao]

> Just saw Channel 3 reporting that a Gray Wolf is also missing from

> the Night Safari and has been for a month!

The soi dogs ate it.

[ChiangMaiMike]

From U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "....some people continue to carry the unfounded fear that wolves attack people or threaten outdoor activities. In fact, wolves generally avoid humans. While wolves certainly have the ability to kill people, there has never been a verified report of a healthy wild wolf deliberately attacking or seriously injuring a human in North America."

Let's hope the sucker is healthy...

[sriracha john]

> Just saw Channel 3 reporting that a Gray Wolf is also missing from

> the Night Safari and has been for a month!

The soi dogs ate it.

Not so! she was spotted just yesterday... so she's still going, but apparently is very weak:

Wolf on loose from Night Safari

Chiang Mai Night Safari staff have been trying in vain to capture an escaped grey wolf that has been on the loose from the zoo for more than a month. The three-year-old female wolf was seen about 3pm yesterday in a wood about five kilometres from the zoo. ''She looked exhausted, frightened and very skinny,'' said Supoj Methapiwat, director of the zoo's animal management office. A team of veterinarians and zoo staff equipped with tranquiliser guns and nets have been deployed in the area in hopes of capturing the errant carnivore. The fugitive is one of six grey wolves the Night Safari bought from a zoo in the Czech Republic.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/04Aug2006_news02.php

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Stayin' alive... stayin' alive"...

Edited August 4, 2006 by sriracha john

[lamphun]

The three-year-old female wolf was seen about 3pm yesterday in a wood about five kilometres from the zoo. ''She looked exhausted, frightened and very skinny,''

That's understandable as the local habit of taking a shotgun for a walk has ensured that there are no game animals in any kind of the woods around Chiang Mai.

[MyPenRye]

Supoj said villagers had been informed that the grey wolf was not a dangerous animal and the zoo had provided tools for recapturing the animal to villagers.

Grey Wolf not dangerous eh ! Im no expert but I wouldnt fancy bumping into one.

Then again at least it'll put some new blood into the Soi Dog population.

What's that he says?? A Grey Wolf is missing from the Night Safari, as well?... and they aren't dangerous?

These guys beg to differ with that assessment:

How come they never seem to lose a turtle or a squirrel?? Why only these lethal beasts??

What's next in the menagerie to turn up missing?? A rabid Gorilla? A crazed Rhino? A hungry Grizzly Bear?

AHAHA!

"What's next to be missing?", you ask ...

Well! I guess ... the zoo employee who usually feeds the aforementioned animal(s) could be next?

(BTW, I hope he has ... good dog food at home! Sorry! Sorry! Bad farang! Bad! Black humour ... about the Night Safari is totally uncalled for! )

BTW, does anyone know if hyenas care much for ... white meat, as I ... WAS thinking of lodging in that area?

... French fries?

... Mac Muffin?

.

Edited August 4, 2006 by MyPenRye

[Nawtilus]

I saw them both in Spotlight gogo bar last night.

Edited August 4, 2006 by Nawtilus

[sriracha john]

the reward has been cut in half:

Bt10,000 reward for wolf's capture

A top official of the Night Safari Zoo in Chiang Mai yesterday offered a Bt10,000 reward for the capture of a Canadian grey wolf that escaped month ago.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, director of the management office of the Night Safari Park Project, said that the wolf was not dangerous because it had been born in captivity in the Czech Republic. He pleaded with local residents not to hurt the wolf and said a Bt10,000 reward would be given to anyone who captured it alive.

The wolf fled from captivity around a month ago and is now hiding in a government-owned forest area at the foot of Doi Suthep.

The wolf, which has been taking poultry from farms, was last spotted at 1am yesterday by a group of hiding villagers, who continued to hunt it until 4am.

Plodprasop said officials were hoping to shoot the wolf with a tranquilliser dart as soon as the correct dosage was calculated by experts. Forestry officials and villagers had earlier been using only nets, traps and baited cages in their attempts to capture it.

He said the zoo had not announced beforehand that the wolf was on the loose because it was not dangerous. "I am even worried that it could starve to death if the search stops it from hunting," he added.

Pol Lt-General Phanuphong Singhara na Ayutthaya, chief of Provincial Police Region 5, whose jurisdiction covers Chiang Mai, said anyone who injured or killed the wolf in defence of themselves or their family would be immune from any charge of destruction of government property.

The zoo will also be responsible civilly if the wolf attacks anyone or criminally if it attacks anyone and it can be proved that it escaped from captivity as a result of zoo officials' carelessness, he said.

- The Nation

[unforgiven]

Two Hyenas break loose from Chiang Mai Night Safari

announced it would give Bt20,000 reward for anyone who can bring back the animals.

Doubt if that will cover the medical bill of anyone trying to grab hold of one.

Let's see now, if they get into our moo bahn will they be called soi hyenas?

ya they can easily kill a human

[sriracha john]

The story is going around internationally....

From China:

Canadian wolf on the prowl in Chiang Mai

A Canadian wolf escaped the Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo in northern Thailand a month ago and has been visiting villages in the neighbourhood on the prowl for food, the zoo's director admitted on Thursday.

Chiang Mai Night Safari director Suphot Maethathivat said the wolf jumped the electric fence surrounding its enclosure in the zoo more than a month ago and escaped into a nearby forest.

"He is very wily and hard to catch, but now he's getting hungry and coming out of the woods to look for food in villages," Suphot said in a telephone interview from Chiang Mai, 560 kilometres north of Bangkok.

"We're getting many reports of sightings of the wolf but he always runs away before we can get there," said Suphot.

The wolf is not the first dangerous animal to escape the zoo.

"There were reports that a tiger once got out of the zoo," said Nikom Putta, a spokesman for Northern Wildlife Protection Foundation.

"The zoo's management and security are sub-standard and cannot prevent animals from escaping," said Nikom.

He added that villagers living around the zoo were at risk, both from attacks by the escaped animals and from the possible spread of diseases.

Nikom noted that the poor management at the Chiang Mai Night Safari was also endangering the animals themselves, many of which have died since the zoo opened less than two years ago.

The zoo has five remaining Canadian wolves, a member of the grey wolf species that is indigenous to North America and Russia.

The Chiang Mai Night Safari, a pet project of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has been the source of numerous controversies.

Earlier this week Thai authorities dodged protestors to export eight elephants to Australia in return for koala bears and other marsupials intended for the Chiang Mai Night Safari and other zoos.

Thai conservationists objected to the animal swap on the grounds that it had not been verified that the elephants were from domesticated stock, and not from the wild. Trade in wild elephants is prohibited under the Conventional on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Last year the Chiang Mai Night Safari sparked an international outcry when it announced plans to open an exotic foods restaurant on the premises, with ostrich and zebra on the menu.

The plans were eventually shelved.

Source: China Daily

--------------------------------------

From Canada:

BANGKOK, Thailand - A wolf that escaped from a zoo in northern Thailand has been eating chickens from local farms and evading zookeepers' efforts to catch it with nets and tranquilizer guns, an official said Friday.

The animal, a Canadian grey wolf, escaped from Chiang Mai Night Safari six weeks ago but park officials decided not to initially publicize the escape since the animal is tame and poses no danger to people, said safari official Preecha Ratanaporn.

Source: Canada East

[Jai Dee]

A 10,000 baht cash reward for the capture of a wolf escaped from Chiang Mai Night Safari

Chiang Mai Night Safari director Plodprasop Suraswadi (ปลอดประสบ สุรัสวดี) offers a 10,000-baht cash reward for anyone who can catch a grey wolf that escaped from the zoo more than a month ago.

The wolf, which is from the Czech Republic, reportedly has eaten two dogs and more than a hundred chickens. It was last seen hiding in a forest near Doi Suthep.

Mr. Plodprasop asked villagers not to harm the wolf. He will give his personal money worth 10,000 baht to anyone who can capture it alive.

The zoo itself has sent two teams to trace that wolf.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 05 August 2006

[Ricardo]

Does this mean that hyena is temporarily off-the-menu, at the Night Safari buffet ? No wonder that visitor-numbers are well-down.

"This is not the first time that flesh-eating animals broke loose from the Night Safari Zoo. Previously a tiger broke loose from the zoo. They are very dangerous to us. The incidents reflected shortage of administration of the zoo authority," he said.

--The Nation 2006-08-03

How the heck would improved administration have avoided the animals' escape ? Did the security-guards forget to check their I.D.s, when they checked-out, for a night on-the-town ? Or did the payroll-section make a boo-boo and piss them off ?? The mind boggles !

And when did this tourist-attraction promote itself to a full-blown zoo ?

[Johpa]

I saw them both in Spotlight gogo bar last night.

And what amount were they asking for their bar fine?

[Ricardo]

And the Sunday lunch-time TV-news is showing a recaptured wolf, in a cage, surrounded by Night Safari management. It must surely be looking forward to being reunited with its old pack.

[george]

Update:

Hunters capture wolf that escaped Thai zoo

CHIANG MAI: -- A Canadian wolf that escaped from a new zoo in Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai and caused havoc across the countryside has been captured, local officials said Sunday.

The wolf, which had been brought to Chiang Mai Night Safari from the Czech Republic, escaped one month ago but zoo officials did not alert the public because they believed the animal posed no danger.

But villagers were soon reporting mysterious deaths of chickens and dogs, prompting a wolf-hunt involving 50 zoo keepers.

The rogue wolf at first eluded capture, but the mission ended with success late Saturday night when hunters finally found the beast walking down a dirt road and shot it with anaesthetic guns.

"We didn't know how to hunt a wolf and the first effort caused the wolf to be scared," Pornthip Uttama, a village headwoman from Chiang Mai province, told AFP.

The Night Safari has been open just seven months, but has been mired in controversy.

First came reports that it was to serve meat from exotic animals at its restaurant, and then there was an outcry over plans to import animals from Kenya. Both plans have since been abandoned.

--AFP 2006-08-06