10 May 2002

WILDLIFE

Living in a village at the foot of Khao Yai national park, Pra-wing Klinklai was notorious as a local poacher.

``It came naturally to me. As soon as I saw deer, I would set a fire around the herd to trap them,'' said Mr Pra-wing, while walking one of Khao Yai's trails last week.

He watched his father hunt for a living, and it never occurred to him that animals or the forests could be conserved.

Mr Pra-wing, who went from poacher to trekking guide, and is now an environmentalist, said changing his mindset was the most difficult part of the change.

``I'm glad to have moved in this direction, but I can't see my fellow villagers giving up poaching because it is a source of easy money,'' he said.

However, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WSC), the organisation employing Mr Pra-wing, along with WildAid, have not given up hope.

The Khao Yai Conservation Project, launched in 2000, combats poaching in the national park.

At Khao Yai, aloewood, which goes into making perfume, was now the plant of choice for poachers, said Tim Redford, WildAid deputy director.

On the market 1.5 kg of the fragrant timber could fetch US$1,000, part of a global environmental trade worth $8-10 million a year.

Timber poachers cutting down aloe-wood fed on wildlife while they were in the forest, said Anthony J Lynam, WCS country co-ordinator.

In a single day a poacher could eat about one kilogramme of meat. On a five-day trip a group of five poachers could consume up to 25kg of meat, or a whole deer and a porcupine.

In the first two years of the project, more than 150 poachers had been arrested, 119 of them turned in to police. While some were middlemen, many were villagers, said Mr Redford.

The project involves career training for villagers and environmental camps for youth to learn the importance of forests. ``With jobs and steady income, poaching would not seem that attractive,'' said Krisana Kaewplang, WildAid deputy director.

A homestay programme was said to be on the project's agenda. High-tech equipment had improved rangers' ability to monitor wildlife and detect poaching. Most rangers lacked skills and equipment, he said. ``Some rangers have never seen a map of the park.''

The programme had provided them with GPS receivers, maps, and patrol and fire-fighting training.

The US Department of State had given WildAid and WCS Environmental Law Enforcement grants. The grant was first awarded in 2000, to groups preserving the Khao Yai ecosystem.

Last week, WildAid and the WCS were presented with $116,000 by US ambassador Daryl N Johnson to continue working with the Forestry Department on the project, and to start training conservationists from the region.

A Southeast Asia Wildlife Protection Training Centre would be set up to combat wildlife trade in the region, which is said to be the most active in the world.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, Forestry Department chief, said the regional training programme would be benefit Thailand by helping to save the forest.