Guest guest Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Dear All, Thank you for this VICTORY, we have a long way to go still. It has been three long years of struggle but it seems our efforts have paid of as the above news report quotes: * " Centre's decision to ban exchange of animals with foreign zoos has hit the city zoo hard " * Some of the wildlife experts without whom this illegal nexus of animal exchange could not have been exposed and halted are as follows: 1. Shirly McGreal, Chairwoman, International Primate Protection League (IPPL) who was the first to have contacted CITES Secretariat and get a confirmation that there was no application to export orangutans from Thaialnd Zoological Park in the year 2005. 3. Mr. Edwin Wiek of Wildlife Friends of Thailand (WFFT) for traveling all the way from Thailand into Assam and bringing with him a nine member Thai Television crew, meeting up with the Assam Zoo director, the Forest Minister and explaining to them why the deal was illegal and that it should be scrapped in November` 2005. 3. Panut Hadisiswoyo, Founding Director, Sumatran Orangutan Society for taking special interest in this proposed exchange and writing out to the authorities concerned. 4. Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Chairperson, People for Animals (PFA)- India, for getting the Orangutan deal scrapped off through the Central Zoo Authority in 2007. 5. Ms. Anuradha Sawhney, Chief Functionary for reconfirming with the CITES that it was not aware of any such animal exchange between Assam and Thailand Zoo Authorities and that no proposals were made in 2007 and also for taking the matter up with the authorities back here in India. 6. The Cornwall`s Voice for Animals. 7. Our friends on AAPN and a lot of other animal people who have been protesting and writing out in their capacity. I have compiled some of the quotes/ letters/ statement by the above mentioned experts which were earlier also posted on AAPN in this regard which can be found after the following news report below. Thanks, Azam Siddiqui ____________ Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080616/jsp/guwahati/story_9416115.jsp *Zoo hit hard by Delhi ban* A STAFF REPORTER *June 15: *The Centre's decision to ban exchange of animals with foreign zoos has hit the city zoo hard. " The Centre has decided not to allow zoos of the country to exchange animals with foreign zoos as it is opposed to the practice of some foreign zoos gifting animals, " a zoo official said. This means that the already-delayed animal exchange programme with Thailand zoo will now be delayed for an indefinite period. Under the programme, the zoo would have been getting chimpanzees, binturongs, clouded leopards and orangutans from Thailand on exchange for a rhino. " This is a decision taken by the Centre and we cannot say anything. But we hope that this will not be on for a long time. The Centre will understand the necessity of having animal exchange programmes to improve breeding and conservation activities of different zoos, " the official said. " The state zoo had also reached an agreement with the Singapore zoo to have an animal exchange programme. This will also be a casualty. The ban has come at a time when the zoo had started its ambitious masterplan to improve infrastructure and increase the number of rare animals for conservation purposes and to attract more visitors, " an official said. ______________ *ARCHIVE mail on the above issue:* *Maneka Gandhi* <gandhim AZAM SIDDIQUI <azam24x7 Thu, Mar 22, 2007 at 1:53 PM No orangs will be allowed by CZA. The rest unfortunately will come in for some " breeding " programme unless Thailand stops it seeing the rubbish conditions of the Guwahati Zoo which is one of the worst kept in the country. Maneka Gandhi I met with the minister of forestry in November 2005 in **Assam** and visited the zoo as well as we heard that Thai officials of the zoo authority visited the Guwahati zoo earlier that year to discuss an animal swap. I explained to them that the orangutans offered by the zoo in Thailand were illegally obtained animals, confiscated from slaughterhouses (3) and others were " donated (2) by illegal owners. The minister assured me that they would never allow the import of such animals as they should be returned to their country of origin. (The minister said during that meeting that he wanted illegally exported wildlife from **India** returned as well. We can now see that the Indian government does not care where the " merchandise " comes from, as long as it " sells " . Make it very clear; these orangutans were poached from Borneo and illegally shipped to Thailand. Anyone accepting these animals is taking in stolen goods as payment for other animals. " Edwin Wiek WFFT http://www.wfft.org Marcos.Silva [Marcos.Silva] Thu 3/22/2007 10:53 Anuradha Sawhney Cc: Virginia.Rothenbuhler Fw: Orangutans coming to India from Thailand in exchange for endangered Indian wildlife Dear Mr. Sawhney, Thank for your message dated 22/03/2007 on the above mentioned subject. We do not have information on the proposed trade that you refer to. We have therefore shared your message with the Management Authorities of India and Thailand. Unless we receive evidence that the proposed trade is not in accordance with the Convention and relevant national legislation, we have no cause to take any action on this matter. Thank you for your message and for your support of the CITES. Yours sincerely Marcos Silva Senior Capacity Building Officer (Training) CITES Secretariat United Nations Environment Programme Chemin des Anémones, CH-1219 Chatelaine Geneva, Switzerland Tel.: (41 22) 917-8120 Fax: (41 22) 797-3417 E-mail: marcos.silva URL: http://www.cites.org > ----- Forwarded by INFO-CITES/UNEP/GVA/UNO on 22/03/2007 12:18 PM ----- " Anuradha Sawhney " <anuradhas 22/03/2007 12:12 PM To <info cc Subject Orangutans coming to India from Thailand in exchange for endangered Indian wildlife Dear Sir, We are writing to you from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India to share our concern about the proposal of the Thailand Zoological Park Organisation to send five orang-utans to the Assam state zoo in the North east of India in exchange for an endangered Indian Rhino. How can Thailand send Orangutans that have been stolen from another country and that country is demanding their return? They also plan to send two clouded leopards, one stump-tailed macaque and three binturongs to this same zoo. There is international concern about this exchange and we hope that CITES will ask some questions of Thai authorities. We await your response. Sincerely, Anuradha Sawhney Chief functionary PETA India Following is the response from CITES to a letter from Shirley McGreal of IPPL with regards to the zoo swap in 2005: ** " John Sellar " <john.sellar Add to Contacts<http://mail.animail.net/caremail/noframes/mailer/t_mailer.asp?whatt odo=t_addalias & EditType=NewA & NICKNAME=John+Sellar & EMAILADDRESS=john%2Esellar %40unep%2Ech<http://mail.animail.net/caremail/noframes/mailer/t_mailer.asp?whatt\ odo=t_addalias & EditType=NewA & NICKNAME=John+Sellar & EMAILADDRESS=john%2Esellar%40u\ nep%2Ech> > Date:* Tue, Aug 30 2005 3:12:43 PM +0200 *Cc:* " azam siddiqui " <azamsiddiqui Dear Ms McGreal, The CITES Management Authority of Thailand has advised me that there has been no application to export orangutans from Thailand Zoological Park . Yours sincerely, John M. Sellar Anti-smuggling, Fraud and Organized Crime/La lutte contre la contrebande, la fraude et le crime organisé/**Anticontrabando, fraude y delincuencia organizada ** **CITES** Secretariat/Secretaría **CITES**/Secrétariat **CITES** * *International Environment House Chemin des Anémones 1219 Châtelaine - Geneva Switzerland/Suiza/Suisse * *tel. (+4122) 917 8139 tel (+4122) 917 8293 (direct) fax (+4122) 797 3417 email: john.sellar * *CITES** Secretariat Web site: www.cites.org * *The information contained in this message may be confidential, and is intended only for the use of the individual or organization named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please notify the Secretariat as soon as possible.* > ** Shirley McGreal [smcgreal] *Sent:* Monday, August 01, 2005 3:35 PM *To:* John Sellar *Cc:* azam siddiqui *Subject:* RE: Thailand planning to swap orangutans for rare Indian wildlife Mr. Sellar, it looks like Thailand is using some of its stolen Orangutans as " trading cards " to obtain rare wildlife from remote northeastern India. How can Thailand trade stolen orangutans when the Government of Indonesia has requested their return? This message is being copied to concerned groups active in Assam who initially contacted IPPL about this situation. I hope that CITES can ask some questions of Thai authorities. Shirley McGreal *Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050730/asp/guwahati/story_5050818.asp **Assam Zoo plans animal swap July 29: *The Assam State Zoo will receive chimpanzees and orang-utans from Thailand Zoological Park in exchange of a male rhino if the discussions held today receive the Central Zoo Authority's seal of approval. Officials of the state forest department and the Thailand Zoological Park Organisation today agreed to exchange the animals in a meeting at the Assam State Zoo. Besides three chimpanzees and two orang-utans, Thailand has also agreed to give one female clouded leopard, three binturongs (bearcat), onepig-tailed macaque and two female stumped macaques all Schedule I animals. Assam chief wildlife warden M.C. Malakar, who attended the meeting, said the state forest department is waiting for the final nod on the exchange plan from the Central Zoo Authority in New Delhi. Malakar and the Thai delegates have already met their officials. Sources said the final clearance might take some time as several aspects, such as health of the animals, need to be considered. Once the green signal comes through, the two sides will chalk out the modalities and sign a memorandum of understanding. The representatives also discussed wildlife conservation in their respective countries and the support received from their governments. The Thai team agreed to provide technical training in designing zoo enclosures and in other areas of wildlife conservation. A conservation programme on common species of Assam and Thailand is also on the cards. Led by its director-general Sophan Dumnoi, the Thailand Zoological Park Organisation team comprises Suriya Sangpong, Thanapat Pongtamon, Kravee Kreethapon and Ratna Kumar Duraisingam. Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman International Primate Protection League PO Box 766 Summerville, SC 29484, USA Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988 E-mail - smcgreal, Web: www.ippl.org fromOrang Utan oicmedan dateThu, Mar 22, 2007 at 3:25 PMsubjectRe: India-Thailand Zoo exchangemailed-bysigned-by Dear Azam, Many thanks for your information. we should speak out our concern immediately to Thai authorities and herewith I would like to express my concern and protest against the animal exchange deal especially the orangutan swap. as we have been all aware that the wildlife groups in Indonesia had seriously condemned the orangutan abuse in thailand and we are now struggling to reduce orangutan trade and poaching by promoting education and campaign programme throughout the regions in Indonesia. Sumatran orangutan, a species currently has been listed as 'Critically Endangered' by the IUCN. A recent workshop involving many orangutan experts from Indonesia concluded that a total of only around 7,000 Sumatran orangutans remain, in increasingly fragmented forest patches. Even more worrying is the fact that only 3 of these forest fragments still contain over 1,000 individual orangutans. habitat destruction, pet trade and poaching obviously contribute to the dramatic decrease of the sumatran orangutan population. the orangutan swap between the Thailand Zoological Park and the Assam state zoo undermine our efforts to protect our biodiversity and therefore, we urgently request the relevant authorities to stop this abuse and stop the wildlife exchanges. all the best, Panut Hadisiswoyo Mari Selamatkan Orangutan dari Kepunahan Let's Save Orangutan from Extinction www.orangutancentre.org www.orangutans-sos.org -- United against elephant polo http://www.stopelephantpolo.com http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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