A boy looks at a peacock, which was one of 999 animals released into the wild in Lop Buri yesterday to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of HRH the Princess Sri Nagarindra, the Princess Mother.

An expert on wildlife management, who asked not to be named, said veterinarians and wildlife management experts felt yesterday's project would only "increase the fertiliser" in Sap Langka wildlife sanctuary where the creatures were released.

The senior staff member of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said the birds and animals had a very low chance of survival as their reintroduction to the wild had not followed international guidelines.

Under World Conservation Union (IUCN) guidelines for reintroducing animals to the wild, each decision must be calculated scientifically using information on environmental factors of the animals' new home. But it appeared the department had determined the number of creatures to be released on a superstitious basis rather than factual circumstances.

"Number 9 is a lucky number for Thais, that's why we decided to release 999 animals today. We could have released 5,000 if we wanted to since we have the capacity to do that," said Damrong Pidetch, director general of the department.

Yesterday's project involved about 100 trucks and over 1,000 people. It was accompanied by blaring megaphones which unsettled the creatures.

Though he would not comment on yesterday's events, Naris Phumpakphand, a Kasetsart University wildlife biologist, said every reintroduced animal should be subject to monitoring.

"Radio transmitters should be implanted so that we can track and study the animals' behaviour," he said.

Unfortunately, the department did not have a programme to follow up on the animals that were reintroduced.

"This is not research," Damrong said. "We just wanted to free them, bring them back to their home. We don't want to torture them with any tag or microchip or radio transmission."

Naris noted that for reintroduced creatures, the very least that should be provided during the first stage of a project was food and water, especially for animals that had become used to being fed by humans and might have initial difficulties in surviving on their own.

Though the project would provide food to the creatures, Damrong said some would die anyway.

"It is impossible to expect that 100 per cent of the animals would survive," he said.

Most of the 999 creatures released yesterday were birds and fowl, including silver pheasant, green peafowl, spotted dove and black kite. There were also sambar deer, hog deer, eld's deer and wild pig, as well as binturong.

The project was initiated to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of HRH Princess Sri Nagarindra, the Princess Mother.

Vinij Thinnaowarat, director of the department's wildlife management division, said some of the creatures were bred in the 22 wildlife breeding centres around the country, while others were seized from illegal wildlife traders.

He said they were kept in the Sap Langka sanctuary for a month to help them become familiar with their new habitat. But local villagers watching yesterday's ceremony claimed the creatures were moved there just three days before.

While the international guidelines require that creatures be re-introduced into their former natural habitat, Vinij admitted he did not have information about the wildlife species in Sap Langka.

"The forests in Thailand are the same so that local species can be reintroduced to any forest," he said.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation

Lop buri