Locals, soldiers and vets join hunt for gaur

Today's General News - Wednesday December 12, 2007

WILDLIFE / DANGEROUS BULL

Locals, soldiers and vets join hunt for gaur

APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Local volunteers, soldiers and veterinarians have teamed up to track down a huge male gaur that has strayed outside the boundaries of Khao Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary in Sa Kaeo province.

Villagers near the wildlife sanctuary have been warned that the animal is considered dangerous. It attacked two adults and a child on Monday, seriously injuring them.

The gaur is said to be about four years old and to weigh about 1.5 tonnes.

About 200 people are involved in the search. The animal was spotted from the air and wildlife officers tried to shoot it with a tranquiliser gun, but failed. It has not been seen since.

It was the second attack by a gaur in the border province this year. In February, a 13-year-old boy received a long wound in the neck and needed more than 100 stitches after being attacked by a bull in Wang Somboon sub-district.

Gaur are the largest and most powerful of all wild cattle and are found in South and Southeast Asia. Yu Senatham, the wildlife sanctuary chief, said the gaur they were hunting would be difficult to find. ''The protected forest is so large,'' he said. ''But at least we've found a trace of its tracks at a village.''

The 643,750 rai sanctuary spills over into five provinces _ Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo and Prachin Buri. Mr Yu said the search team was now standing by at the village, about 30km west of the sanctuary.

The operation would continue until they catch the gaur alive, or have solid evidence that it had already returned to the deep jungle, he said.

The gaur population in the sanctuary is reported to have increased from only 20 in 1999 to nearly 60 this year, thanks to a successful conservation effort.

Samart Sumanochitraporn, director of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department's wildlife conservation office, said the general increase in the wild animal population had some undesirable effects. Farmland had been raided and villagers had been attacked.

The presence of wild animals in community areas could also lead to outbreaks of disease in farm animals. A special task force will be set up to closely monitor the situation in the area to prevent confrontation between people and wildlife.

Bangkok Post