The Gibbon Project

So I have been working at the gibbon project for a while now and I have learned a lot. Not just about the gibbons, but about how the government works, and how animals in Thailand are treated in general.

So, the Gibbon Project. Gibbons are an endangered species in Thailand. There are some in the wild in other areas of the country, but they disappeared completely from Phuket island in the early 1980s. Back then it was legal to keep wild animals as pets in Thailand. In 1994 there was a law passed that made it illegal to own all wild animals, except for elephants. So many residents now had illegal pets and didn't know what to do with them. So the Royal Division of Forestry created the gibbon project as a place for these gibbons to go. This story is what is given on our information boards on the education center.
Since I have been working here I have learned that Thais are wonderful people but are very proud of their country and the fact that this is an organization is run by them and not foreigners. Which they should be, but their story is not really true. There was a man from America that studied primates and came to Thailand to start the gibbon rehabilitation project to try and save an endangered species and reintroduce these animals into their natural habitat. If you ask the Thai staff what happened to him you will get different answers like, heart attack, or an accident out in the forest. If you do the research though, you will find that he was shot and that a week after he was shot, his wife died in a car accident. I in no way think that any of the people that I have been working with would have had anything to do with this, but someone didn't like the fact that an American was running the program (theory) so they got rid of him and now it is run by the Thais.

Regardless, the project and the people that are running it now have a good thing going. Even though it is illegal to own gibbons we know of many all over Phuket that are kept as pets. Locals will walk around the beaches with a baby gibbon and have tourists pay to have their pictures talked with them. Others are kept in bars and forced to smoke cigarettes and drink beer because it is fun for the tourists. Many of these gibbons are injected with drugs to keep them awake because they naturally fall asleep at about 4pm, and that would be no fun for the tourists. Others are just kept as pets because they are cute and people like them. The problem is that when they reach a certain age they can get aggressive, no matter how domesticated they are. So people just kill them or shave down their canine teeth and keep them in small cages. So why don't we just notify the police and have them taken away? What usually happens is that they just don't care, or they will find these people and ask them how much they are willing to pay them to keep their gibbon. Basically saying if you pay me off I will keep my mouth closed. That is how the police work around here. Even though there is a law, they know that the gibbons bring in money and that will help the economy/government. Some kind souls that understand and our just tourists or residents will sometimes buy the gibbon for a large amount of money just to bring it to our project. The only problem with that is, the seller now knows that he can make money off of selling gibbons and will just go get another one. How does one get a baby gibbon you might ask.

Sorry I get quite passionate about all this so this may be a long blog.

In order to get a baby gibbon, which is all people want, poachers will go camp out in the forest over night. Every morning they do their territorial calls so that is how they are found. If the poachers find a family with a gibbon they have to shoot the sisters, brothers and the father first because they are all protective of each other. Then the mother will climb as far as she can up in a tree to try to protect her baby which is always wrapped around her belly. The poachers then shoot the mother and she will fall to the ground from a great height. 1 times out of three the baby does not survive the fall, so the poachers will have to try again. So for every gibbon you see on the streets of Thailand there are on average 15 dead ones in the forest. That is why gibbons are endangered.

So when we get gibbons at our project we first put them into quarantine. There we do blood tests. They can have hep A, B, or AIDS or herpes. They can have anything we have. Once they are found to be clean we send them to the rehabilitation center. There we have to teach them how to be gibbons. They have been living with humans most of their lives so they do not know how to relate to other gibbons or survival techniques. We have to teach them how to drink water in the wild and how to swing instead of walk. The forest floor is very dangerous for them so they must learn to stay in the tree canopy. We then try to pair them with mates. This is hard because they are like humans and are very picky. When they choose a mate it is for life and the way they chose is through singing. So we have to try and figure out who is singing together and then move them close. We then try to put them in the same cage and teach them how to share their food. Once they are okay with each other have a baby, we wait until the baby is a certain age and then move them to a cage further away from the rehab site. After a period of time we then move them to a cage that is way up in the canopy for a while. After that we release them into the park which is a non-hunting area. We still feed them for a year after that, giving them less and less as the year goes on. In 16 years they have released 5 families and there are currently 3 with one family getting close. It takes about 10 years on average to release a family and there is only one ranger in the forest that comes once a week, so there are still poachers to worry about.

It is a sad story, but we are making progress. It is all funded through donations and volunteers like me. The government gives no help and even makes it harder for them. They will not allow them to open bank accounts in other countries to receive donations. People can still donate online but there are so many fees that the bank takes out that if you donate 1500 baht the gibbon project gets about 500 baht.

The realities are a little hard to deal with but I love working around these apes. They are so much like us in so many ways. They all have personalities and they can sense your mood. I'm so attached to them already. Even if I'm cleaning ape poo it is one of the best experiences that I have had. So, if you know anyone who is going to Thailand tell them not to get their pictures taken with gibbons, or monkeys, or lizards or any wild animal. It supports a bad business. They can also report it when they see it, and who knows, maybe someone will do something about it.