Saving Thailand's Wildlife
By Megan Tady
It was an alarm clock that never had to be set.
Every morning, at around the same time, Chelsea Nordick was awoken beneath her mosquito net canopy to the sound of gibbons singing to each other.
"It's one of the things I will miss most," Chelsea said. "At first it was obnoxious and I had trouble sleeping. But after awhile, you get used to it. It just becomes part of you. When I came home, I really missed it, as if there was a big hole in my day."
Chelsea got accustomed to these musical mornings while she was volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand for eight weeks last June. A zoology major living in Colorado, Chelsea arranged her trip through the Global Volunteer Network to get practical experience working with animals. At the centre, she found what she was looking for.
The work Chelsea was involved with included helping with daily feedings, cleaning cages and creating enrichment programs to keep the animals stimulated.
In a journal Chelsea kept, she wrote: "I fed the bears today, and am finding lots of places to put their food where they really have to work hard to get it. We even gave them some chicken today, which is very rare, but the babies adore it. They make the funniest, loudest noises. They are really amazing creatures to work with."
The wildlife sanctuary, which is currently home to gibbons, macaques, civets, sun bears, a tiger, elephants and a pig, takes in wild animals that have been abused and mistreated by human captors. All of the animals are rescued and most arrive at the sanctuary malnourished, wounded and traumatized.
The abused animals are a result of Thailand's illegal animal trade, in which wild animals are caught and sold as pets, exploited by the tourism industry, or killed for their fur, meat and medicinal purposes. Many simply end up as trophies.
Although Thailand ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the world's largest international wildlife conservation agreement, the illegal animal trade is still thriving. In fact, the trade is estimated to be worth $8 to $10 billion a year in Southeast Asia.
The illegal wildlife trade's success is due to a number of factors, which includes deforestation and a loss of habitat, an increase in roads that link forests and markets, a growing human population and a growing urban population able to make such purchases. In a survey conducted in one market in Thailand for 25 weeks, it was found that 20,000 birds were sold, of which were from 276 species. In two national parks in northern Thailand, tigers, elephants and wild cattle have been hunted to extinction.
The animals that are brought to the wildlife sanctuary where Chelsea worked are the lucky ones. While the sanctuary aims to rehabilitate the animals and release them back into the wild, often the animals must live at the sanctuary for the rest of their lives.
"The hardest thing for me was the tiger Meow," Chelsea said. "He was kept by a grocery store owner who just fed him candy bars and other scraps so tourists could take pictures with him. He is so beautiful, but since he was malnourished, he can barely move. When he tries to, he is very clumsy and just can't move right. It broke my heart every time I looked at him."
Chelsea was able to see the effects captivity had on the animals on a daily basis.
"A lot of the animals are really angry and bitter towards people," Chelsea said. "But a lot of the animals that were treated the worst are still loving. There was one gibbon that had been kept in a box her entire life. Her bones didn't develop properly, so she couldn't walk. She was a midget her entire life. But you could just go and sit by her cage and she would just clean your arm for you."
As part of her service at the sanctuary, Chelsea gave tours to tourists. Despite this effort to raise awareness, she still thinks there needs to be more education about the illegal animal trade.
"I think there's a lack of awareness everywhere," Chelsea said. "As far as Thailand goes, I would like to believe that people are getting the idea. But then I went to a market in Bangkok and there are all of the animals for sale. There were these squirrels with leashes around their necks. Either people don't understand or they don't care."
For Chelsea, the solution lies in learning to value animals.
"A lot of people think that animals don't feel as much," Chelsea said. "But they understand what's going on. They have the same susceptibility to pain. We really need to be more careful about how we treat other living things."
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The Global Volunteer Network (GVN)
The preceeding article was provided by The Global Volunteer Network. GVN's Media Team writes and places articles about volunteer experiences, socially-conscious travel, the issues that affect people in disadvantaged communities and the fight for a more just and equitable world. To read more accounts and learn about volunteering opportunities world-wide, visit http://www.volunteer.org.nz/
posted by Kim Davis @ 9:09 AM
