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GVN Community Fund - Thailand Projects
In Thailand there is still a thriving trade in wild animals for pets. Baby animals such as gibbons, macaques and bears are taken from the forest after their mother or even whole family has been shot. Poachers can earn a lot of money for selling just one such baby, so as long as the demand is there the hunting will still continue. As babies, these animals are very appealing and easy to handle. However, once they reach a few years old they become dangerous and unpredictable with large canine teeth, capable of inflicting severe injuries. At this stage they usually end up confined in very small cages and subsequently abandoned at rescue centers.
Our partner's wildlife rescue centre offers the best possible care to these rescued animals, and an important aspect of this is providing structural enrichments in every enclosure, as well as employing other methods of behavioural enrichments such as feeding enrichments on a daily basis. This way the animals are kept busy and their minds occupied, relieving the stress and boredom often associated with being held in captivity.
However, at many of the government-run rescue centers in Thailand, where thousands of abandoned animals are being housed, there is simply no budget to provide such enrichments and many animals are living in barren cages with nothing to keep them occupied, many showing signs of severe stress and boredom.
Our partner is committed to helping all wild animals in need, regardless of whether they are at their rescue center or elsewhere. They would therefore like the opportunity to help the animals at these rescue centers all over the country by providing materials for enclosure enrichments for them. These can take the form of ropes, rope ladders, tires, swings, climbing frames, sleeping boxes, barrels, platforms, nets to play in etc. These items are relatively inexpensive and simple to construct, so a small amount of money can go a long way in changing the lives of these animals. If we can obtain sufficient quantities of these materials, our partner's volunteers and staff can visit these rescue centers and make a real difference to the welfare of the animals housed there.
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