Thailand is a country rich in biological diversity, and home to unique and rare species of flora and fauna including the iconic Thai Tiger and Asian Elephant. In Thailand – as elsewhere – there is a constant battle between conservation and development. Habitat loss, poaching and trafficking, human-wildlife conflict, and domestic use of wildlife has impacted heavily on many of Thailand’s native plant and animal species, etc. Thai forests once housed an important tiger population, their remains. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were an estimated 100,000 wild tigers in Asia. This number is currently estimated to be less than 4,000, about 200-250 of which are in Thailand. Despite the critical situation, Thailand's success stories exist in places like the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in the west of the country where the number of tigers is estimated to have tripled in the last 10 years. In this area, guards patrol heavily to prevent poaching of tigers and their prey. However, the trafficking of wild animals still remains a large threat.
What Happened in Recent Years
More than 1,500 listings of live animals for sale have been found on Facebook in Thailand by a wildlife trafficking watchdog. Traffic, which monitors such activity, said many of the species, despite having international protection, were not native to the country, and so trading them was unregulated. The listings were found on 12 Facebook groups for one month in 2016. Also in this year, wildlife protection officials in Thailand relocated some of the 137 tigers from the Tiger Temple after Buddhist monks alleged animal trafficking. Teunjai Noochdumrong, head of the Thai Wildlife Conservation Bureau, said that the three animals have been calmed down and moved to public animal centers today. And 86 tigers rescued from this temple died.
An alleged kingpin of wildlife trafficking, suspected of fueling much of Asia’s illegal animal trade for over a decade, has been arrested in Thailand, local police officials said on 20 January 2018. Boonchai Bach, 40, was arrested in Thailand’s northeastern border province of Nakhon Phanom, in connection with the smuggling of 14 rhino horns worth over $1 million from Africa into Thailand last month. The case also implicated a Thai official and a Chinese and a Vietnamese courier, the Thai police said.
Six days ago, a zoo and a farm were raided in Thailand's Mukdahan province. In a large-scale raid on the Mukhda Tiger Farm and Zoo, where illegal animals were found, 5 tigers were seized and one cut tiger head was found. Of the 5 captured tigers, a male and a female Panthera tigris tiger were confirmed to be the offspring of two tigers at the facility. Also, the authorities seized two more tigers for forensic testing and launched an investigation into the cut tiger's head.
The Struggle of Activists and Legal Regulations
On 1 December 2005, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN WEN) was officially launched. The objective was to develop inter-agency committees including police, customs, and environmental agencies operating under the coordination and leadership of one national authority. The committees would allow the free exchange of intelligence and would coordinate joint operations regionally. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) is joining hands with several international organizations to launch a campaign to end wildlife trafficking. The campaign, called "A Good Life is Free of Killing", is a collaboration between the Thai government, WildAid, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The director of the DNP's Wild Flora and Fauna Protection Division, Somkiat Soontornpitakkool, said illegal wildlife trafficking has led to sharp declines in the numbers of wild tigers and elephants to the extent that both animals are facing the real risk of extinction. WWF-Thailand and TRAFFIC Southeast Asia are therefore running a major campaign to secure legal reform to ban all ivory trade in Thailand until there is a credible mechanism for regulation.
How to Help
There are many organizations that you can learn about and contribute to by donating. You can offer your support through one of them.
1. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) (wwf.org)
2. Wildlife Friends Foundations Thailand (WFFT) (wfft.org)
3. The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC) (traffic.org)
4. The Wildlife Justice Commission (wildlifejustice.org)
5. FREELAND (freeland.org)
6. World Animal Protection (worldanimalprotection.org)
Bibliography
Boonlert, Thana. “New Joint Bid to End Wildlife Trafficking.” Bangkok Post Public Company, 8 Oct. 2019, www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1766954/new-joint-bid-to-end-wildlife-trafficking
Baraniuk, Chris. “Facebook Animal Trade Exposed in Thailand.” BBC News, BBC, 10 Sept. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/technology-45472159
Sharma, Shweta. “Beheaded Tiger Found at Private Zoo Raided by Authorities in Thailand.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 2 Dec. 2020, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/thailand-tiger-beheaded-zoo-raid-b1764947.html
The Associated Press. “Wildlife Trafficking Kingpin Arrested in Thailand.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/world/asia/thailand-wildlife-trafficking-boonchai-bach.html
UNODC. “Criminal Justice Response to Wildlife Crime in Thailand.” UNODC, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2017, www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific/Publications/2017/Thai_Assessment_13_16_May_2017.pdf
