Raising awareness about Wildlife legal issues brings more wildlife to the WFFT Centre.

Recently, following the Mali case making headlines in the press, we received a lot of phone calls from people who learned that the possession of any wildlife is against the law in Thailand , even monkeys. Concerned by this knowledge owners realise they shouldn’t keep their pets just because they ‘love’ them. They want to find them a better place, where their animals can be happy. The Mali case highlighted the work we are doing at the WFFT center and the care we are taking for each animal we rescue.
This was the case for one monkeys owner, they wanted to re-home their female Northern pig-tailed macaque who is about 3 years old. She was kept as a pet in Nakhon Pathom, near Bangkok. Her name is Songkran and they told us that her mother had been hit by a car and killed and they kept her baby to save her. This is story we here a lot.
This poor little soul was kept in a cage behind their house, which is also a business building next to a main road with a lot of traffic . She was fed with fruits and sticky rice… And at night, like very often in these cases, Songkran slept with the couple in the bedroom. But recently their little darling started to dislike girls. She didn’t like to be touched or carried by them, even her female owner. She started to become jealous and protective towards the man. Despite this conflict the couple were concerned about the place she was going to live, so they decided at the last moment to join the WFFT Wildlife Rescue Team back to the center to check it out for themselves.
Once back at the center Songkran was placed in an enclosure in our quarantine area. She almost instantly found the water tub and the tyre swing . The owners were happy to see her swim and play in her new temporary home. The staff also took the owners to the big open Newland mixed macaque enclosure that, hopefully, she will call home after a suitable adaptation period.
So, let’s welcome Songkran and wish her a monkey life.