Queen's initiative to increase animal numbers
By Apinya Wipatayotin
After disappearing from the forest in Uthai Thani more than three decades ago, the Eld's Deer will return to the Thungyai-Huay Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuaries in the central province next week. The National Resources and Environment Ministry has scheduled the release of 77 of the deer, called Lamang in Thai, into the World Heritage site in Uthai Thani province on Friday in a ceremony to be presided over by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
The event is part of the ministry's activities to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's birthday on Aug 12.
The project aimed at increasing the population of rare animals was initiated by the Queen. More than 1,000 Eld's Deer have been bred by the ministry.
For the Eld's Deer project, wildlife experts selected the outstanding genes of the Tamin variety from Burma to breed with the Siamensis gene from the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park in the United States. The present generation is healthy and strong enough to survive in the forest, experts say.
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| The Eld's Deer |
The return of the Eld's Deer will make the Thungyai-Huay Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuaries the largest site for the animal in the country.
''I am rather confident that these Eld's Deer will increase their population naturally because we have selected the best bred ones with the hope of them increasing their numbers and surviving,'' Environment Minister Anongwan Thepsuthin said.
There is no information about the numbers of the deer in the wild, but it is suspected that a few live in the Phnom Dong Rak forest.
The forest is located on the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin, Buri Ram and Si Sa Ket provinces.
The Eld's Deer is listed as a near extinct species and is found in India, parts of Indochina including Thailand and the southern part of China. However, its numbers have dramatically decreased due to the rapid increases in the human population. In the wild there are only 200 Eld's Deer in India and about 3,000 in Burma.
In Thailand, the Thungyai-Huay Kha Khaeng area was once the perfect home for these deer, but they disappeared from the forest three decades ago after intrusions by humans.
Chalermsak Wanichsombat, the chief of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, said staff will closely monitor the deer after their release into the wild in a bid to evaluate their rate of survival.
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