Another tragedy waiting to happen

General News - Tuesday December 18, 2007

POSTBag

Another tragedy waiting to happen

136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand - fax:022403666 - email:postbag@bangkokpost.co.th

The recent killing of a human baby by a captive monkey unfortunately illustrates again that keeping a wild animal as a pet is dangerous.

The pig-tailed macaque that was kept as a pet escaped off its leash on Dec 5 and although the owner tried to catch the monkey and asked for help from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNP) they were not able to catch it. Subsequently, the macaque killed a two-month-old baby on Dec 13. The monkey was shot dead the next day.

Besides the fact that the owner of the monkey is, in principle, guilty of damage done by the macaque, it does occur to us that some blame is the DNP's for not enforcing the Wildlife Preservation Act that stipulates no one is allowed to hunt, transport or keep endangered wildlife. All macaque species are subject to this law that went into effect in 1992.

In Thailand we find many wild animals held as pets by private citizens and small businesses, some to attract customers. A survey in 2006 by the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) found more than 4,000 monkeys and gibbons were being illegally kept as pets in the country.

The WFFT has sent more than 40 complaints and reports on this issue to the DNP over the last 18 months and has yet to receive one reply, while no action has been taken. Another tragedy waits to happen.

The DNP has many times forbidden NGOs to rescue, help or care for captive wildlife. However, the DNP lacks the motivation and/or expertise to deal with the matter themselves.

Recently, a juvenile bear rescued from a temple in Cha-am, Phetchaburi by forestry officials, escaped only days later from a substandard cage at the government facility and has been roaming a community forest near Hua Hin for over a month, scaring local villagers.

Offers by the WFFT rescue team to help catch the bear to move it elsewhere have not been accepted. It will probably be shot dead, paying with its life for the incompetence of one person.

Since the story on the killed baby broke, the WFFT has received several calls from wild pet owners who want to give up their monkeys to the foundation. One family drove up without even calling in advance and handed over a pig-tailed macaque, expressing fear of a similar attack.

The monkey had been refused at a government facility because it was supposedly full.

EDWIN WIEK

Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand

How much money have booze bans cost?

I think it would be interesting to calculate the revenue lost under the Election Commission rule banning the serving or sale of alcohol.

This rule is a huge mistake. The US tried prohibition and all it did was fuel crime and the illegal alcohol trade.

How could the government basically shut down Pattaya, Phuket and most of Bangkok during the high tourist season, causing the loss of many millions in revenue? Is the government prepared to compensate business owners for the revenue lost on the busiest night of the week for the sale of a legal product? How much revenue did big alcohol producers lose? How much did the government lose in tax revenue?

Ask these questions and I bet you will open a can of worms, finding that the big companies were compensated, but the local small shops, restaurants and bars were just left to suffer.

READER

Holidays sadly dry

I am a tourist who is not able to vote in Thailand. Why are tourists being punished by not being able to go into a bar and have a drink.

Whoever made this decision should not be put in charge of a boy scout group. Please have some consideration for tourists.

I am disappointed and saddened that we are treated in this manner. We all love coming to Thailand, but cannot afford to have our holidays ruined.

RUINED HOLIDAYS

Foreigners should take political interest

It is hard to find a village in the provinces where there is not at least one house built by a Westerner or Western/Thai couple.

Villagers tend not to resent these foreign invaders, but welcome them. They seem to appreciate that foreign money can have a positive effect on a village economy, trickling down through family and extended family to local vendors and others.I think it is also true that the majority of these foreigners demonstrate a love and respect for Thailand, the King, and Thai Buddhism.

At election time, these foreigners, whether settled here in retirement, working in Thailand, investing in Thailand, or visiting, frequently have no vote. And it can only be so.

However, I disagree with those foreigners who feel that they have no right to a political opinion. Foreigners' lives in Thailand potentially can be affected more greatly than the lives of Thai citizens by political decisions.

The ability to get a visa, work permit or residency, the ability to buy a home, start a company, invest in Thailand, bring money in and out of the country, are all factors that affect foreigners enormously.

Equally important to foreigners is the wish for Thailand to be a country where there is a stable government free from corruption, where their human rights and business interests are protected, where there is freedom of speech and a free press, and where nationalism does not create bad feelings against them.

It can be argued that some foreigners might not have enough in-depth knowledge of Thai politics to form a valuable opinion. However, I think it has been demonstrated in recent years that sometimes the English-language and foreign press has been free to reveal truths that perhaps the Thai press was unable to.

Foreigners who love Thailand, and who care about its future should indeed take an interest in politics, and should encourage their spouses and Thai families to use their vote wisely.

PAUL SPURRIER

Bangkok

Sound was sweet at jazz festival

Totally contrary to Mr Lauber's letter (Postbag, Dec 17), I really enjoyed the Bangkok Jazz Festival and saw no need to complain about the sound.

Maybe Mr Lauber should understand every artist brings their own soundman which can lead to a difference in sound. Even so, I did not hear what he did.

It should be mentioned that the three-day festival is held at a great location with good parking, good atmosphere, top programming, food and drinks available for reasonable prices and all for a third of the price of some international concerts which last no more then 90 minutes. Why complain? I hope and think it will happen again, and with more internationally-known artists.

JAZZ LOVER

Bangkok Post