Thailand - The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project

Sherpa - Cop  and Jom
from the
Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, Phuket, Thailand

Photograph by Toffee Omyim
2012

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The following is from their website: (http://www.gibbonproject.org)

The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) was set up in 1992 by Mr Noppadol Preuksawan, the chief of the Royal Forest Department in Phuket at that time, Mr. Thavrn Sri-Oon, Bang Pae Sub-Station chief, the Asian Wildlife Fund and an American Zoologist called Terrance Dillon Morin. In 1994 the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WARF) started to support the project, we are now a research division of WARF.

Objectives (more information for each is on their webpage and information on how to adopt a gibbon for a year)...

1. Develop a method to successfully rehabilitate white-handed gibbons back into their natural habitat.

2. End the demand for the illegal use of gibbons as tourists attractions and as pets.

3. To repopulate the last remaining rainforest in Phuket-Khao Pra Theaw Non-Hunting Area (National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department).

4. To create awareness of the importance of conservation of the environment.

5. Provide the opportunity for volunteers to study the white-handed gibbon.