|
April
2005
Would Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin return the poached Orangutans?
“Thailand is
ready to lead the formation of a South East Asia Regional Law Enforcement
Network to Combat Nature Crimes”, said Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Sinawatra,
on the opening of CITES (Convention of International on Trade in Endangered
Species) XIII meeting in Bangkok on 2nd October 2004. Such a
statement is questionable in view of Thailand’s poor track record over the
scandal of the Indonesian Orangutans kept by the “Safari World” resort in
Thailand.
At least 115
Indonesian Orangutans have been held in captivity in Safari World, one of the
entertainment attractions in Bangkok, where they are forced to perform in the
famous “orang-utan boxing show”. From a physical examination by Indonesian
primate experts who visited Safari World last year, it is clear that the baby
orangutans held in captivity are of the Kalimantan orang-utan species
Investigations
by ProFauna, a wildlife conservation and animal welfare organisation,
established that approximately 1,000 orangutans from Kalimantan have been
poached or illegally trapped from the wild to be traded in Java then smuggled
overseas. In the international black market, one orang-utan can fetch US
$45,000.
The Royal Thai
Embassy has stated to ProFauna Indonesia in several meetings that the Thai
government would return the orangutans to their country of origin once the
legal case is finalised. The Thai Embassy has also expressed concern over the
conservation of orangutans and that Thailand and Indonesia are two friendly
countries. However, the statement has not been followed up by any concrete
action to return the captured orangutans to Indonesia until today.
On 21 - 23
April 2005 leaders of Asian and African nations will be attending the Asian
African Summit 2005 in Jakarta, including a delegation from the Thai
government.
ProFauna and
International Primate Protection League (IPPL) take the opportunity to issue
the following statement:
1. The
legal case on those orangutans held by the Safari World is not progressing.
The Thai government has previously stated that the owner of Safari World has
breached law by importing wild species without permit (July 2004). In
addition, they have violated Customs and Excise rules by illegally importing
endangered species (20 December 2004). However, it is ironic that the Thai
Director General of National Parks and Wildlife, Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment sent a letter to their Forestry Police on 31 Aug 2004, stating
that there is nothing wrong for Safari World to be involved with the
orangutans. Today, Pin Kewkacha, the owner of Safari World, is still free to
conduct his business. In addition, he is now acting as an advisor to “Night
Safari” in Chiang Mai.
2. The
DNA tests undertook by the Thai, supposedly for the purpose of identifying the
species origin. In fact, all the Thai established was whether these
orangutans had actually been born in a breeding programme in Safari World
Thailand as claimed by the owner. According to the DNA test result, at least
12 orangutans out of 47 tested (the remainder having either “died” or
disappeared) are not blood related and could not therefore have been bred in
captivity. It was presumed that the DNA testing would be a step in the right
direction for the police to enforce the law, but in reality, it was just a
process to drag out time until many of the orangutans died, one by one.
ProFauna and
IPPL maintain that the Thai Government is not serious in resolving the case of
orangutans held in captivity by Safari World and demand that those orangutans
be returned as soon as possible to Indonesia. They further urge that legal
proceeding against Safari World be continued.
|
