Gaur killer:

“The gaur (/ˈɡaʊər/, Bos gaurus), also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986, as the population decline in parts of the species’ range is likely to be well over 70% during the last three generations. Population trends are stable in well-protected areas, and are rebuilding in a few areas which had been neglected.”

Hugh Paxton’s blog got this from Chang who found it in the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. It was designed and used by a poacher who killed a gaur. It’s a cunning bit of evil. The man, known to Chang, was small and so was his weapon. So small you can slip it into pockets or in this bloke’s case tie it to your ankle and conceal it beneath baggy trousers. Once in the forest you find a bamboo. Cut it, insert it in the hole and you have a halberd or a short arm axe. The method of killing involves bravery, lies, disguise, stealth and nightwork. You sever the tendons of the gaur while it is at rest, then when it is unable to run, you slit its throat. You then fail to notice that the gaur you have just killed is about to kill you because it is tagged by rangers who are armed with more weapons than Rambo. This axe comes to me from a man who was not shot by park rangers – what a nasty but pitiful weapon if faced with ten angry conservationists with AKs. The rangers could have skipped the paperwork and just buried him. The police and judges for once got off their fat arses and the poacher is in jail. In a way the cruel crudity of his weapon saved this poacher’s life. It posed no threat to the arresting officers. Some poachers from over the border come in with machine guns and every ranger knows that this is a fight to the death.

Tourists to Khao Yai love the park. But by and large they have no idea what is going on beyond the mountains and in the deep forests.

Chang is bringing me another weapon on Monday. This was used to kill a bear. I’ll tell you about it when I have seen it properly.

Cheers from Bangkok!

Hugh

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Saving the dhole: The forgotten ‘badass’ Asian dog more endangered than tigers | Environment | The Guardian

Hugh Paxton’s blog has seen dhole hunting packs twice – both times at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. I knew they were rare but had no idea they were quite as rare as they are. Read on!

Thai Days: Dhole pics

It’s a dhole. And there’s another one. Ten here and there. I saw em all. A couple of pups, too. Sarah had the presence of mind to take a picture. I can’t think why the dhole are so fearful. A leopard might slaughter the entire pack if it was a bad cat day and the dholes were having a bad dog day. Nothing else in the forest to give them anything to worry about. Perhaps the whelps. Everything hits that size. If the little ones were lucky they’d meet a King Cobra. He/she would ignore it. King Cobras eat snakes. Wild dogs? Nahh! Too warm and fluffy. A King Cobra could, should it choose, rear higher than your head. They only bother doing that if you are being a complete twit and poking it with a stick. Or if you are in semi-dusk and think it’s a shower sort of thing and stick it in your face while grabbing its tail to release warm water while wondering why there is another meter of argh!!! Where ??? …

Hugh

From: Sarah Sekhran [mailto:sjsekhran@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 9:31 PM
To: paxton.bkk@gmail.com
Subject: Dhole pics

Dear Midori,
The email I sent to your U.N account bounced back so am trying your home email. I will also try to send the Dhole video to this email. As I mentioned in the other email, the pictures are not brilliant, but proof we saw the wild dogs:)

Take care,
Sarah

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Thai Days: Elephants and things in Khao Yai National Park

Hugh Paxton’s Blog likes Khao Yai National Park. It’s Thailand’s first National Park, is only two to three hours drive from Bangkok, and is full of huge mountains covered in gigantic trees. The views are stupendous! Spiritually uplifting! And every time I go there something very different happens.

The last time I went I rose early and while my beloved sister, two of her highly esteemed sons, my irreplaceable wife and my annoying daughter were on a wander in search of elephants, I elected to stay put on an elevated piece of land offering fine views of a valley.

This valley, which is seasonally clogged with very tall grass, has proved surprising in the past.

A pack of dhole, the red dogs Kipling brought to global attention in the Jungle Book, turned up for a hunt. An extraordinary spectacle. They jumped up and down to see over the high grass. I think we’ve got a blurry photo. I won’t bother you with it and I can’t be bothered looking for it.

Let imagination step in! Background? Dragon back peaks wreathed in constantly shifting mists and low cloud, the raucous honk of a hornbill, the drip of moisture on my head, a rather shivering sense of cold that is about to become very hot and there! Right in front and all around is a rainforest! And a pack of Dholes.

Nice!

This time the hunting pack was elsewhere and I was forced to find alternative stimulation. A rather neat pile of dung. Looked like olives. Civet? Yes. Looked like that! I had found a latrine! I had a look at it and wondered what to do next.

There was a crash. More like a thunderbolt! A huge tree had fallen over. I’ve seen a rainforest tree fall over in Guatemala but it fell over slowly, reluctantly. About five minutes spent on its decline. This Thai giant spared the observer the suspense and fell over properly! The whole forest in its vicinity rippled uncomfortably. There were echoes from neighbouring peaks and cliffs.

It was dramatic! A Khao Yai moment!

Khao Yai specializes in moments. One visit – a billion fire flies blinking on and off with total precision. The forests were mad with light and magic. Another, a tick deeply embedded in my daughters eyelid and my mother in laws ear. Nice one!

Both extractions required minor surgery.

Some serious leech action on another visit. They get everywhere but like testicles!

And there was the elephant affair. We struggled through forest, and our guide who was a very serious sort of chap, was keen to show us an elephant. We found one. It was big.

Fair enough, that’s the point of being an elephant.

It was angry. And it had red eyes filled with fury. The guide grabbed my daughter and ran away, yelling “Run!”

Silly really. Trek to find an elephant, find one and then scarper praying the elephant doesn’t squash you.

It’s called eco-tourism.

Khao Yai is currently making headlines for two good reasons. The monkeys are becoming over confident because tourists keep giving them food. This has encouraged monkeys to raise the bar and stop being cute. Did you see the latest Planet of the Apes movie? Not quite like that. The monkeys don’t have guns and can’t ride war horses. Yet. But evolution is a consistent challenge and constantly throws up unwelcome initiatives.

The elephants aren’t in this jostle for a banana or a packet of Phad Thai flavoured crisps. They wish to assert themselves and if a car gets in the way they weigh two tons more. A magnificent photo on the front page of the Bangkok Post (they’ve got a website, you can see it for yourself) shows an elephant kicking a car. Another elephant barged into the park staff canteen but nobody had a camera. That’s life for you! Missed opportunities!

Don’t miss the Khao Yai opportunity.

Give this fabulous place a visit. Anything could happen!

Hugh, Bangkok

Thai Days: Great gaur killed in Khao Yai National Park

It’s late, it’s been a busy day but one of those days that starts off looking like an impossible climb but (after a bit of struggle and determination) somehow works out, leaving you with a feeling of ‘Hey, Mama,look at me! I’m on top of the world!’

And I was! Then I picked up my Bangkok Post to swat a mosquito that was after my nose (bloody killjoy!) and missed. I had another shot but our ear whining houseguests move fast. Our home must have at least one hundred resident geckoes – they’re everywhere; under the fridge, glued to the ceiling, under the kettle, in my files and on my tiles but they must be allergic to mozzies. Or maybe they are simply accelerating evolution by consuming the slow pokes and leaving me to deal with the jet fighters. If so, I’ve just been out evolved. My target was Top Gun material and my Bangkok Post Newspaper disintegrated.

I hadn’t killed my tormentor but I was still happy. Then I saw an article that had gone un-noticed but was rippling across the floor towards me propelled by the overhead fan.

“Park’s gaur leader killed by poacher” read the header.

Gaur are giant wild cattle, taller than bison or musk ox, with huge horns and an impressive spinal hump to make the back of their necks rise and…impress! Khao Yai National Park is two hours, maybe three hours, drive away from Bangkok, or four if the traffic is petulant, and is a beautiful remnant of wild Thailand. I’ll describe it properly in a future post, but a brief Hugh Paxton Blog executive summary reads thus:

“Dragon back mountain ridges, a million fireflies after dark, 10 million bats flitting in curling dream-like formation from the limestone karst cliff caves at dusk, the liquid whoop of gibbons at dawn, orchids on old trees, mist puddled in valleys, scrounging pig tailed macacque monkeys, rustles, noises and sweet, strange smells…tropical forest and magnificent. With comfortable bungalow accommodation. And tigers. And Gaur.”

The monarch of Khao Yai’s tropical glens was ‘Khang Chai’, 25 years old and proud head of a herd of seven gaur. He’d been introduced to Khao Yai to get the gaur back, get them going and he’d done well. He had also gained a sense of awe and afection from local people and park rangers.

Then some dipshit shot him, but given Khang Chai’s size only jurt him very badly.

He fled his herd and family, and rangers, alerted by alarmed villagers, set off hoping to sedate him with dart guns and get him a bit of veterinary attention. The bull fled the rangers and after an excruciating tracking period, blundered off a cliff. And died.

That was the passing of Kang Chai.

The poacher gained nothing. It is possible that shooting a gaur wasn’t even his intention for entering the Khao Yai forests – aromatic trees such as sandalwood are far more valuable than meat and a lot easier to extract and they keep off the flies. It is also possible the gaur frightened the poacher and made him shoot.

Until the man with the gun is caught we really won’t know.

Anyway that’s the story to close my night and, if you are in a different time zone, open your day. I’m still feeling up beat. My family and friends are fine, people read this blog, I didn’t burn dinner and I had a great swim in a pool in a thunderstorm. But I’ll take thoughts of this gaur to sleep with me. There’s so much to see in our world and every day there is less to see. No, maybe that’s a bit gloomy. The great gaur has sired off-spring. Given the chance they’ll grow.

Thai Days: A tale of two poachers

Poacher number one:

Hmong hilltribe man, Nai Sae Tao, has just been arrested and charged with poisoning a female tiger and her two cubs in March. Tao asked his partner in crime, Hoang Van Hien, to take a photo of him sitting in triumph on the dead female. Dumb. Seriously dumb. But helpful for the prosecution.

The poachers sold the carcasses for 30,000 Baht (roughly $10,000) but have yet to identify the purchaser who police speculate is a member of a trafficking ring using Thailand as a source, and Laos and Vietnam as conduits for final delivery to China.  There are aproximately 100 tigers left in Thailand’s Huai Kha Khaeng and Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuaries where the dead tigers used to live. Penalties for poaching are light – a maximum of four years.

NOTE: July 22nd will see the launch of a new initiative sponsored by USAID with partners including Interpol, ASEAN WEN, National Geographic, FREELAND foundation and others. The initiative is called ARREST (Asia’s Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking). Snappy title! I’ll attend the launch and let you know what’s what.

Back to our poachers!

A further three poachers, believed to be part of Nai’s gang, escaped after a clash with rangers who found them in possession of a wild boar, weapons and illegally cut eaglewood (not quite sure what that is).

Hugh Paxton’s Blog is pleased to describe a happier Thai wildlife poaching story courtesy of the Freeland Foundation.

“From the age of 15 and for the next 38 years, Nuan Muangchan, and her family survived on earnings from illegal poaching. She sold edangered aloe wood and wildlife taken from Khao Yai national park.

Poaching was dangerous work and constantly took Nuan away from her family.

Although she was aware of her family’s distress and the risk of being jailed, with very few job options – all paying too little to support her family – she was helpless to change her situation.

In 2004, life as she knew it, changed.

Nuan joined a FREELAND alternative livelihood programme, ‘Surviving Together’, to farm mushrooms. Since beginning this sustainable, safe, and legal work, and with a steady income, she has never felt the need to return to the park to poach. Nurturing her mushrooms has yielded success after success. Nuan has re-invested profits to build new mushroom farms and increase her production. She now makes mushroom packs to sell to other villagers who have developed an interest in organic farming after seeing her success.

Following an accident, Nuan was able to pay for her daughter’s medical care. She can now also afford to send her grandchildren to school, which would have been impossible on the unpredictable earnings from poaching.

Nuan is proud of her achievements and regularly shares her ideas with other villagers to improve their mushroom business. Her future plan is to farm the slower yielding shitake mushroom, which fetches a much higher price on the market.

Contributing positively to her village, Nuan is now living in harmony with the forest.”

FREELAND contact details: info@freeland.org  and www.freeland.org  USA office: 500 Montgommery St, Suite 400, Alexandria, VA, USA 22314  Bangkok office: 591 UBC Building, 10th floor, Room 100 (you can’t miss it – it’s right next to a Japanese kumon classroom and there are bored looking Japanese Dads hanging around in the corridor), Soi Sukhumvit 33, Sukhumvit Rd, Wattana, Bangkok 10110