BREAKING NEWS — 105 Animals Saved (Part 1)

On Tuesday the 16thof August 2018 the WFFT Rescue Team headed out on their biggest rescue operation yet. We had received numerous complaints from concerned members of the public regarding a variety of wild and domestic animals being held at temple in Rayong Province.

A few weeks ago we visited the temple to speak to the Abbot and assess the situation. Thankfully the abbot was concerned for the future of these animals and informed us that he would be happy for us to help them. During the initial visit we were shocked to find over 100 hundred animals including an endangered white-handed gibbon, an uncountable number of endangered turtles, a domestic goat, a palm civet and even domestic rabbits and ducks. WFFT’s philosophy is to focus on the rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals but in this instance we could not leave the fifteen domestic animals in this squalor so we committed to providing them with a permanent home at WFFT.

The animals had all been dumped at the temple over a period of many years whether they were unwanted pets or unwanted farm or work animals one thing is for sure, the temple was not able to provide proper care for this influx of unwanted animals and needed outside help. The monks had tried to provide care for the animals but had not been able to provide specialist care for them.

The area the animals were being kept was easily accessed by members of the public as it was close to a public road. People would throw trash into the enclosures, often killing the animals when they ate it, and we heard reports that some of the animals had been poisoned.

Temples are no place for wild animals, the monks at this temple clearly loved the animals and wanted what was best for them, hence handing them over to a facility that was more well equipped to care for them.

All the animals are currently being quarantined. We will assess each of the wild animals for future release back to the wild.

With another 100 mouths to feed WFFT’s animal food budget has just vastly increased. Please help provide refuge and rehabilitation for these special animals by making a donation at www.wfft.org/donate/

Part two of this story and individual animal profiles will follow in the coming days.