Some last comments of readers on the Anchorage Daily News at the release of Maggie after 25 years

A video when she was still in the zoo in Anchorage starting suffering with her health:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtReJcxOqw/

And the site with views how happy she is now:

http://www.pawsweb.org/photo_gallery_maggie.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Indonesia)

“Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages http://naturealert.blogspot.com/ in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … to save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry…. who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!”

Nature Alert 25-8-2008

A very sad example of abuse of a monkey in Jakarta (Indonesia)

Performing monkey on Jakarta roadside, Indonesia:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thirnbeck/2749305894/

LINKS TO ANIMAL PROTECTING ORGANIZATIONS: under revision for the following reasons, please read!

This page is under revision as there are thousands worldwide to mention. Lots are in fact more locally concentrated or are big as multinationals with many objectives which in my opinion cannot be operating effectively.

I prefer smaller and more on specific goals concentrating than at thousands of objects.

I have unfortunately already noticed that even those above mentioned often are too busy to pay even small attention to volunteers who sincerely want to help. To be a paying field-working volunteer no problem whatsoever but there the cooperation likes to end unfortunately with the excuse “no time; too busy”.

I try to investigate those animal-aid groups for Thailand, where I live, and the (near) surroundings which cannot be de-linked from Thailand like Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Malaysia and shall mention them when they have really some time to have a listening ear for warnings and questions for help and are not ignoring suggestions for subjects which has been worked on already for many, many years and are declared dead now because of failing laws, “friend’s”-politics, bribes or being “too sensitive” or difficult: one better leave the patient “in coma” because nothing can be done anymore.

My first goals are Pata “zoo” and the begging street-elephants in Bangkok.

Concerning petitions I was already a bit unsure. Many thousands going around about any subject one can and cannot imagine and hugh targets which cannot be reached. Some targets are clearly explained but some not because the site limits the number of the characters in the description. No names are mentioned to whom the petition will be directed and even the sponsor of a petition stays anonymous and even don’t react at questions.

Maggie the elephant from Alaska: “an amazing operation”

Here the last comment of reader “sbisslan” in the Anchorage Daily News on her, for some persons, controversial move to a sanctuary in Tennessee. Lots of comments can be read in here:

http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/104642

I was very surprised and elated that I was able to join the group at Elmendorf Hanger 5 to watch Maggie arrive and loaded on the C-17–a plane that is immortalized as Maggies with an elephant emblem beside the door! What large equipment, what careful handling, and what enthusiastic airmen and officers. Lt General Fraser, head of the Alaska Command was almost like a little boy with excitement and Wing Commander Gen Tinsley was delighted the AF could participate in this community endeavor. Perhaps we should rename the blog ‘Maggie Settles In at PAWS.” In the meantime, the Alaska Zoo has many projects to support, animals to visit and care for, and is a lovely place to walk about and let life’s stresses dissipate.

Alaska’s Newspaper

Also a video when she was still in the zoo in Anchorage starting suffering with her health:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtReJcxOqw

And the site with views and videos how happy she is now:

http://www.friendsofmaggie.net/

City elephants enjoy a guided return to nature in Lampang

By MR Pridiyathorn Devakula
Published on May 12, 2008

I have concentrated on economic issues for many weeks.

Today, I would prefer to write a non-economic story about nature that I encountered recently, an occasion that deserves praise.

Last Monday, I had a chance to visit the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation’s camp at Ban Hua Thung in Lampang’s Hang Chat district. There, I witnessed the way that elephants are being trained to live in the wild, eating the plants available to them in the forest. Feeding by humans is not allowed. These elephants were domesticated or had worked with teak logs in the past, but the foundation bought them from their owners with the intention of returning them to their natural habitat. But before any elephant can be returned, it needs to be trained so that it can adapt itself to life in the wild. In the past, some elephants that were returned into the deep forest after having been domesticated were unable to survive in the wild and thus died. The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, therefore, set up its camp with a sizeable forested area as a place for elephants to learn how to live in the wild before actually returning them to nature.

On the day that I visited the camp, two new elephants had just been brought in; one is about eight-years-old and the other four. I saw them trying to feed themselves, using their trunks to pull up grass and young plants into their mouths. In an area nearby, I saw a small swamp that the elephants could use for washing or to play in the mud. A new elephant is assigned a mahout as a mentor who not only trains them to live in the wild, but also takes care of their health problems. An elephant used to living in the city could fall ill when brought to live in nature because of a change in its diet. Also, they might be injured in other ways. Once an elephant gets sick or injured, officers at the camp will contact the veterinarian at the elephant hospital located nearby in Hang Chat to take care of that elephant. These physical health concerns are another reason why elephants are required to stay at the camp during this transitional period.

I was told that it normally takes three  to six months before the elephant can adapt to a new way of life. During that time the elephant will try to find a partner. This does not mean someone of the opposite gender, but rather another elephant that can be a real companion. A young elephant would turn to an elderly female for comfort. Whenever a young newcomer is brought in, the remaining elderly females are brought in to get acquainted with the new arrival. If they happen to like each other, they then live together as mother and child. This partnership is very useful for their life in the wild. If the camp can return them into the wild together, they can help each other and will not feel lonely. Sometimes, they can gather in a herd of more than two, which is even better.

I also saw a lovely pairing: a nine-year-old male and a 32-year-old female that have been living in the camp for many months and are now ready to be returned to their natural habitat. They met at the camp and the mother and child relationship developed. While the young one was feeding himself and greeting my family and I, the older one stood behind quietly at a safe distance like a mother standing by to protect her child, if needed, and waiting to bring him back home after the child finishes his leisure activities. The maternal bond was obvious to all of us there. During that time, I also noticed that the young one got affectionately close to a camp staff member. I was told that the man is a mahout who had taken care of that young elephant until it adapted to the natural habitat and found an elderly partner. The young elephant remembered his babysitter so he leisurely approached and snuggled. This reflects another type of pure companionship that is difficult to find in the big cities so full of materialistic civilisation.

Subin, the chief of the camp, explained to me that the perimeter of the natural habitat used as a training ground for the elephants was surrounded by an electric fence to prevent their escape into the woods before they are healthy enough to survive and live in the wild. A normal fence would not be strong enough, so they have had to resort to an electric fence. However, they are careful enough to keep the voltage at a level at which it will do the animals no harm. The reason I mention the fence is to point out that this electric fence was not imported, but rather constructed by the camp’s staff applying local wisdom. They use solar cells connected to a battery to generate electricity for the wire fence and the cell is placed on the thatch roof of a small cottage covering the battery unit. A discussion with Subin reveals his passion for the elephants and his love for nature. He is glad to be a part of this programme and to have a chance to bring the elephants back into their real home, the forest.

The person who drove me to the camp was a lady named Jimmy. She was born in Lamphun and works at the Chiang Mai branch of the foundation. Despite her being tiny, she is capable of driving a big four-wheel-drive pickup agilelythrough a remote area to the camp. She has to drive from a city office to the camp at least twice a week to deliver supplies and also carry cash for the staff’s monthly salaries. The passage to the camp is very rough and quite deep into the forest but she covers it with enthusiasm.

One key person who deserves to be mentioned here is the man who has devoted himself to the operations of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation. He helped originate various activities and is one of the principle people who acquire elephants from cities. He established the camp and now raises funds and solicits donors to sponsor the purchase of the elephants for it. He is Sivaporn Dardarananda, who was once CEO of finance and securities company Tisco. After resigning, he developed an interest in and a compassion for the lives of elephants, and for the past four-to-five years he has been volunteering full time for the foundation. In the past four years, 46 domesticated elephants have been acquired for the purpose of returning them to their natural habitat. He intends to reintroduce up to 81 elephants as a tribute to His Majesty the King on the auspicious occasion of his 80th birthday. At this moment, Sivaporn is speeding up the acquisition of elephants as well as soliciting more donors. I wholeheartedly wish him every success in due course.

Elephants are ethical animals, second only to human beings in this regard. Returning as many domesticated elephants as this to their natural habitat will not only be considered a great act of mercy but will also help rehabilitate the wildlife population and contribute to the better balance of nature. This will prove to the world that we, Thais, do care and are capable of conserving the forest as well as preserving our wild life in a sustainable manner.

This effort truly deserves praise.

“Hungry and Jobless, Elephants Wander the Streets “

By SETH MYDANS

Published: November 4, 1996

“Jobless and hungry, 18-year-old Dao has fled the parched northeastern province of Surin to become a beggar on the crowded streets of Bangkok. Her story of economic migration is a common one in Thailand today, but Dao belongs to a special subgroup of Bangkok’s homeless population — she is an elephant.”

More about this item you can find in THE NEW YORK TIMES of July 17, 2008:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E0DF1538F937A35752C1A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

Again more reality about the Chinese inhumanity – Guangzhou (Canton)

This is a YouTube video about dogs crying on their way to Guangzhou (Canton)-market..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEiaXaV5TkM

THIS is GREECE: welcome to the “civilized” EEG (Common Market)!!

GREECE A Razor Sharp Reality

“Patriotic or national allegiance when dealing with the suffering of animals should play no role whatsoever in your positive actions for the good of the animals. They sadly live within the borders of inhumanity!” Marijo Anne Gillis

In spite of Greece’s seductive focus on alluring images of pristine, sandy beaches, sacred antiquities and expensive, global, fantasy public relations campaigns, brutality exists in the shadows, the back alleys and the local garbage dumps where animals are tossed like putrid trash to die; suffering and alone.

MORE TEXT AND PHOTO’S:

http://www.wagny.org/greece

MY ADVICE: THINK VARIOUS TIMES BEFORE SPENDING HOLIDAYS IN THIS UNCIVILIZED COUNTRY!!!

Elephant and mahout-aid: (to-days news at television)

To-day I heard on television that a Thai Minister declared to have made a budget of 3.000.000.000 Baht (around 56.000.000 Euro) for elephants and their mahouts. The plot will be near Surin and will be 6.000 rai (about 960 hA) big.

This will mean in fact the elimination of all the begging street-elephants in Thailand. The mahouts are claiming that they have to go to the cities to earn a living because the elephants are less and less used for work in the woods etc.

Very good news but we will see how long this all takes. I hope very soon because every day an elephant is roaming through the streets is one day too much:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toni_uni/sets/72157603251277034/

The elephant-song from Kamahl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCZLYgm05g

May I put some question marks around this good-willing announcement reading the following of 6 years ago in the New York Times:

By SETH MYDANS (NYT)

Published: August 8, 2002

The governor of Bangkok is mounting a new effort to expel scores of domesticated elephants who wander the streets as beggars with their handlers. The governor, Samak Sundaravej, proposed building special camps at a cost of $7 million. Earlier plans to rid the city of begging elephants have failed because of the cost, the lack of available forest area and the pressure of poverty, which drives elephant handlers to seek a living on the streets.

Seth Mydans (NYT)

promises, promises and more promises to keep everybody quiet?? The idea of the governor of Bangkok who is now Premier of Thailand.