A few more of the residents

Sugar.
Sugar arrived at Highland Farm on the 9th May 1999. He was initially sent to WAR (Wild Animal Rescue) in 1996 and is thought to have been born in the wild. His owner no longer wanted him as his neighbours were complaining about Sugar singing. Sugar had been kept at a bar in Pattaya, a city 150km south of Bangkok, where he was given amphetamines, alcohol and cigarettes. He was made to stay up until two in the morning to ‘entertain’ the customers. Wild gibbons will usually settle down in a night tree several hours before sunset.
He had also been kept on a wire leash, which WAR found had grown into his neck. He nearly died in the operation to remove it. He becomes very nervous when some people, usually westerners, approach him though he seemed cool with me. He has a habit of sitting with his arms wrapped tightly across his chest, while bouncing his back against one of the poles in the corner of his enclosure. He also stays up much later at night than the other gibbons.

Coconut.
As well as the 45 Gibbons that live at Highland farm there are also 7 monkeys. Coconut is a male stump-tailed macaque otherwise known as the bear macaque. In Coconuts case this is quite apt. He must have been kept as a pet as he is quite overweight and friendly to humans. He was discovered about 2 miles from Highland farm at a national park. There are no wild monkeys to be found in the park as it is relatively new secondary forest. Coconut’s owners must have released him when he either started to bite or was just eating them out of house and home. I found him to have a very gentle temperament and although he is not very active, he doesn’t display any stereotypical behaviour.
Some of the other monkeys must have been very poorly treated before arriving at Highland farm.
Primates, and in fact most animals, that have been kept in poor conditions or on their own can develop stereotypical behaviour. These behaviours are usually very repetitive and include pacing, neck-twisting, rocking, over-grooming and even self-harm. Sugar’s version is to wrap his arms around himself and bounce his back against a pole. In my experience these behaviours will never totally disappear no matter how well they are cared for. They will come out again when the animal is stressed or frightened, sometimes for no apparent reason. It is important therefore that any captive animal has some form of regular enrichment. It can be social (company of others), environmental (new branches/ropes) or mental (food presented in a novel way, puzzles).
Below is a picture of one of the monkeys with a simple bamboo food puzzle. You can see the look of concentration on its face.
Keri ;o)

Elephant Nature Park

Elephant Nature Park.
On the drive to Chiang Mai I was surprised that we seemed to go through a few national parks. It was only when Pharanee pointed it out to me that I realised it was all new secondary forest. 20 years ago all these hillsides were bare. In 1988 Thailand suffered a number of landslides and floods; this led the Government to pass a law banning commercial logging. Good news, you would imagine. Sadly the deforestation has carried on and 9% of Thailand’s remaining forest cover disappeared between 1990 and 2005.
The logging ban also had an effect on an animal that has played an important role in Thailand for many years: the Asian Elephant. In fact, elephants are revered and considered as the animal that helped build Thailand. Unfortunately, in modern days, many elephants earned their employment in the logging industry. These elephants and their Mahoots now struggle for work and many have taken to begging on the streets. The elephants perform tricks for tourists and many are involved in car accidents. There are less than 5000 elephants left in Thailand, around 2000 are wild. 10 years ago there were 25, 000! 100 years ago there were 100,000!
Many of the unemployed elephants were sold off into neighbouring countries where logging is still legal. Elephants are awarded livestock status in Thailand and can be traded as such. Some were released into the wild and left to fend for themselves. The majority that don’t beg on the streets now work in the trekking industry, taking tourists for treks into the hills and forest. A few lucky ones have found themselves at rescue centres such as the WFFT and the Elephant Nature Park.
So, on my first day I was picked up at my hotel and driven an hour and a half North from Chiang Mai. Within the beautiful Mae Taeng Valley lies the Elephant Nature Park. The park was established in 1995 by Sangduen Chailert, otherwise known as Lek(‘small’ in Thai). Lek has created a haven and the elephants here have really landed on their feet. There are 35 elephants spread between 6 herds. The park makes its money through tourists, like me, coming to spend a day learning about the elephants. There are 2 main feeds a day and 2 baths at the river, all of which the tourists get to join in on. This is the extent of the work that the elephants do and I believe they thoroughly enjoy both activities. In between the feeding and washing we had several talks and were introduced to some of the residents. We also watched a video which included scenes of how an elephant is usually broken into work. It is the traditional method and I found it incredibly distressing to watch. I was glad to have seen it though and relieved to hear that Lek has been working to change the training method. She has been teaching the hill tribes how to train their elephants using positive reinforcement. She also runs an elephant ambulance and travels around treating the remaining working elephants. One of the elephants I met had most of her foot blown off by a landmine. This is a big problem in Thailand; it shares its borders with Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Some of these borders are disputed and so there is a big problem with landmines.
Altogether, I had an amazing experience and I felt very privileged to be around these magnificent beasts. I felt that my money would be well spent and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Thailand. As well as day-tripping tourists, such as myself, the centre takes Volunteers and I imagine it would be fantastic to stay here for a week or two and really get to know the elephants.
Keri ;o)