WFFT Responds to Surprise Raid by Government Officials

WFFT founder, Edwin Wiek, has issued an urgent statement regarding yesterday’s surprise raid of WFFT by government officials:

“Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) has spent the last two decades fighting to conserve wildlife and to protect animals in Thailand. Sadly, that is seen as political and controversial to a small but powerful minority – particularly those who profit from exploiting animals as part of the country’s illegal wildlife trade that’s worth millions of dollars.

There are a few individuals out there who are against our mission and have, over the years, made multiple attempts to have our vital work shut down. And now, their latest shot was by submitting an anonymous report of groundless accusations about land ownership to the Department of Special Investigations (DSI), which the DSI is now required to investigate.

Yesterday, over 50 officials from numerous government departments turned up in full force to raid WFFT as part of the DSI’s investigation, as well as many members of the media. It was a disappointing, unnecessary and intimidating use of resources. Acting as a representative of WFFT, I helped the DSI with their investigation and after a few hours of reviewing documents and land boundaries, it was clear to those involved that these claims were being easily disproved. The DSI will now review its findings.

It is my hope that in the future, this intense use of government resources spent on interrogating and raiding WFFT, one of the country’s few wildlife rescues, can also be spent investigating the disgraceful zoos, breeding farms, and poaching operations across the country that are fuelling the illegal wildlife trade and cruelly exploiting animals.

Thank you to everyone for their support of WFFT during this time, and we hope to have a positive update with you all soon.”

Edwin