Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

bonny10 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 16:46:32 GMT

Yes i would be happy to help answer any questions if i could (i am a nurse though and not a vet so depends how medical). My Grandad lives just outside of Pattaya but location is not important as can always get a taxi to visit him. Keep me informed of the volunteer program and hopefully i will be able to save some money to come over and help :)

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

tj1987 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 03:06:08 GMT

Hi Celine

Thanks for your informative reply.

Will BIAZA still help us, even though the park obviously isn't anywhere near reaching their standards?

I've used the Shape of Enrichment site a lot in the past but didn't realise there was a FB - I even managed to find a group based in SE Asia so thanks a million for that suggestion. At the moment we are learning enrichment techniques at the Malaysia National Zoo which has been very informative and extremely useful. Sometimes it feels like enrichment for humans just making the activities!

Thanks for telling your keepers. If anyone has any advice regarding integrating enrichment activities for these animals, especially the monkeys who have been in barren cages with no toys or human contact for years, then it would be greatly appreciated. I am a trainee veterinary assistant but have elected to take a Zoo Keeping module this semester to help with the project.

Thanks again for your suggestions, really appreciated!

Tat

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

tj1987 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 03:01:25 GMT

Hi Bonny

We accept volunteers all year round, but are initially on a 6 month probationary period with the management of the park (they accepted my offer of creating a volunteer program and built some houses for us, but other than that have had little input). So for now all we can say is we are definitely operating the program until June 2013.

The park want to increase their revenue. We want to increase the animal welfare. So the ultimate goal of the project is to create a fully functioning zoo out of all the parts they have that haven't been put together yet. (ie they have the animals, but no awareness on how to give them any quality of life).

Where does your Grandfather live in Thailand? The park is in Kanchanaburi which is 3 hours west of Bangkok. The most famous tourist attraction is "The bridge on the river Kwai" and there are lots of pretty waterfalls in the area too.

We would also like to have someone we can contact via e-mail if we have a veterinary question. Would you have time to help us with this?

Thanks for your reply

Tat

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

bonny10 — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:41:17 GMT

I would be very interesting in volunteering and helping out in any way possible. I have been to Thailand before (my grandad actually lives there) and always wanted to got back and volunteer and this sounds perfect.

Do you except volunteers all year round? It will take me a while to save air fare and enough money to pay my bills at home whilst away but i am definatly interested.

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

Celine — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:08:38 GMT

Have you made contact with BIAZA (British and Irish Associaton of Zoos and Aquaria) as they may be able to support / help raise awareness via their members - ideally you need some great zookeepers to fly out to help you, people with a lot of experience at enriching wild animals who are adversely affected by a lot of human attention! (ie the opposite of enriching domedtic animals!) Check out the Shape of Enrichment website and facebook, and also contact them for help / volunteers. I'll tell my keepers meanwhile :)

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

tj1987 — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:31:52 GMT

Hi!

Thanks for the quick reply. We have a volunteer facebook page at www.facebook.com/safarivolunteer.

The park is a private venture and therefore has suffered from lack of regulation. There is no enrichment program and cages are inadequate. It is based around 45 minutes drive from Kanchanaburi town and it set on 200acres of land. Tourists can drive through on a safari bus, however visitor numbers are low due to poor upkeep and lack of marketing. We want to revamp the place, improve living conditions of the animals and create programs where the tourists can meet ambassador animals and have an educational day at the park. We want to introduce enrichment programs to as many of the animals as we can as a main project. We also want to overhaul signage, start education programs for children, teach the staff English and have several construction projects that we will focus on, such as a Gibbon Island and a much larger enclosure for the tigers.

As you can see it's a huge project! But with the right volunteers we can make this work.

Thanks for your help!

Re: Help needed at a Safari Park in Thailand

Mark Hedberg — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:01:18 GMT

If you can give me some details on the park, i can get it on our facebook and blog.