33,000 Animals Recovered In Thai Trafficking Crack-Down

by ANC Staff and Defenders of Wildlife

As part of a three month campaign, officials from Thailand recently ramped up their investigations of illegal wildlife trafficking and recovered more than 33,000 animals, including tigers, bears, orangutans and birds, according to a December 10 Washington Post article.

In one raid, a team of forestry police officers entered a house on the outskirts of Bangkok and discovered tiger carcasses quartered and on ice, 21 bear paws, severed at the joints, six starving tigers, five live bears, and four baby orangutans, one of which died because of the horrendous conditions.

Maj. Gen. Sawake Pinsinchai, a veteran police officer, told the newspaper it was a "tragic scene" that "boggles the imagination." Sawake's team also raided an open market, and seized more than 1,000 protected species of birds in one day, and a couple of private zoos, where they found 70 unregistered orangutans.

According to Sawake, Queen Sirikit and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra are urging greater protection for wildlife and are focused on ending illegal wildlife trading, which, in profitability, is second only to drug trafficking worldwide.

Individual interested in encouraging these efforts can send an appreciative (and free) fax to the Royal Thai Embassy by going to www.denaction.org and logging in, then selecting Alert #270.

The Royal Thai Embassy can also be emailed at: thai.wsn@thaiembdc.org.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.