realthailand

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Animal abuse in Thailand; Canadian grey wolf dies at Chiang Mai Night Safari after lengthy escape

Officials at the Chiang Mai Safari didn't notify the public for three weeks when this Canadian grey wolf first escaped, and they didn't see fit to notify anyone when it died either.

from the Bangkok Post:

Wolf dies after brief flirtation with freedom

Chiang Mai _ A grey wolf which recently made a brief break for freedom from Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo died over a week ago, but its demise was kept under wraps until yesterday. Just as zoo officials did not try to alert the public when the three-year-old wolf escaped, they also chose to keep quiet about its death.

The wolf's escape came to light only when villagers living near the zoo complained that a strange animal had stolen and eaten about 200 fowls and puppies over the previous month.

Zoo officials then admitted that the wolf had disappeared from its enclosure a month earlier, explaining they had kept quiet because it was tame, bred in captivity, posed no threat and they expected to quickly recapture the animal.

The missing animal was given the nickname Lhong, a Thai word for lost.

A team from the zoo finally recaptured the wolf on Aug 5. It was kept under close watch for rabies and other diseases and then returned to the enclosure it shared with five other Canadian grey wolves, the zoo's director for management, Supot Metapiwat, said yesterday. [ed. it was immediately returned to the same enclosure as other animals after spending weeks in the wild?]

However, the wolf then became sick and was sent to the animal hospital at Chiang Mai University. The animal died over a week ago, Mr Supot said.

Veterinarians were examining the carcass to find out what killed it.

The other five wolves are still in good health.