Join Us To Save The Gibbons of Phuket from WARF' hands

 Introduction WARF Issues IUCN guidelines GRP Issues Comparison between NGO Relationship with other NGO Help from Kalaweit Foundation? Purpose Contact References Sitemap


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Would you lie to protect the Thai staff you consider as friends even tho you know deep down the animals are suffering


What is a Gibbon?

Gibbons are the smallest of the ape’s family, which also include orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas. They are very similar to humans in term of genes - about 95% similarities. Gibbons are monogamous and territorial animals living in the upper canopy of the rainforests of South East Asia. They possess a loud territorial singing, which can be heard for several kilometers in the rainforest. They move from tree to tree by a swinging movement called brachiating. Gibbon’s diet consists of fruit (50%), leaves (25%), vegetables, flowers and insects. They can live for up to 60 years in captivity; 40 years in the wild.


What is the problem?

There is a terribly sad story behind the adorable face of a baby gibbon in the street and an even sadder future that lies ahead of him

The story starts when poachers walk into the forest at night. They set up a camp site, spend the night there and they wait until the early hours of the morning when the gibbons wake up to start their hunt. when the gibbons wake up they usually sing to each other and this is how the poachers locate them. When the group has been found, the members of the family will all be shot one after the other leaving the mother carrying the baby on her belly. The mother left alone with her baby try to escape but the poacher came into the foret for one purpose only and they won't give up until they catch this very precious baby gibbon. The mother soon get shot like the rest of her family and this is when things get worse for the gibbons. During the fall from the tree top to the ground, very often the baby get hurt very badly and doesn't survive the fall. The poachers killed a whole family of gibbons for nothing and they will now move into the rainforest in search of the next family to start all over again.

Only 1 in 3 babies make it by the time the whole family has been shot (which is an average of 15 adult gibbons). The babies will then be sold to be used as tourist attraction or pets. Unfortunately, most babies will die in their first year of captivity due to malnourishment or bad caring from their new owners.

For the lucky gibbons surviving the killing of their entire family, they will become an object to bring back money to their new owner. Half of these gibbons will be used on the beach during the day, in the street/bar/restaurant at night, they will be fed with sweet food and coffee to keep them awake all day long. Many of them will be taught to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes to amuse tourists. These baby gibbons will have to work long hours and get flashes in their eyes for many hours every night; many of them will become epileptic and eventually die.

The other half will be drugged up by their owners who will have their teeth removed or filed down to avoid the danger of biting. The drugs will also help to keep them awake and calm at night. The owners using the same needles day after day to inject their baby gibbons will eventually transmit them diseases like Herpes, Hepatitis A or B, and even HIV.

A few of these baby gibbons will grow up to reach sexual maturity; they become aggressive and won’t be able to work anymore. They will be dumped on the side of the road, they will be put in boxes and left outside in the street, they will be killed by their owners or they will be chained up or put in a tiny cage they will never leave again.

Sometime the owner will contact a rescue center to take care of their gibbon; this is the only chance they will get of a brighter future.

What about the gibbon rehabilitation centre (GRP) in Phuket?

GRP
Throughout 2007-2009, the GRP in Phuket, Thailand, was investigated. Many volunteers were sent to the project to record conversations, take pictures and find out what was hidden to the public.

In this project, a minority of the staff are dedicated to the animals, these are the few people trying to help the gibbons but unfortunately others have a very different ideas and use the GRP to their advantage to get what they want, this also seem the case of the GRP's owner, WARF (Wild Animal Rescue of Thailand). During the 2 years we spent at the project we became a first hand witness to the abuse, fraud and corruption (to name a few illegal things occurring there).

A rescue center should have two main objectives, the first one being the wellbeing of the animals, secondly (and right behind that) the wellbeing of the sponsors (volunteers), but we feel at GRP the main objectives are the staff, they seem to think they are more important than anything or anyone else.

Due to the location of this project, the amount of corruption of the country, and powerful personalities involved in all of this, these informations needed to get to the public to make things change. This website has been created to bring pressure on WARF & the GRP in Phuket, Thailand to stop their activities and to get a better organization (Thai or foreign) to take over. Gibbons are native of Thailand and should not be used for money in their own country, they need our help!





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