FREELANDER Issue 3 (English)

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FREELAND is dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking and human slavery by increasing law enforcement capacity, supporting vulnerable communities and raising awareness.

The multi-billion dollar illegal trade in protected species is one of the most lucrative illicit markets in the world today.

Combined with habitat loss, it is driving many species towards extinction.

Unchecked nature crime not only ravages biodiversity, but the knock-on effects can unravel entire ecosystems. The loss of important watersheds and carbon sinks, for example, accelerates global warming, endangers human health and food security Human trafficking targets vulnerable people for labor and sexual exploitation, destroying lives and tearing families apart.

FREELAND believes a compassionate world is a world free of slavery.

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Message on Thailand’s Floods: Dear Supporters, Before the Year 2011 ends, it’s difficult not to reflect on the recent flood disaster in Thailand, which claimed over 650 human lives and many more animals. Is it a wake-up call for us to treat nature right?

The flood affected everyone in some way, but it also brought out the best in people. Such as the time we joined a group of hard-working rescuers from Wildlife Veterinarian Association of Thailand to save two wild boars trapped inside a house. The house was submerged under 2m of water in one of Bangkok’s worst hit areas. Led by Dr. Nantarika Chansue, the team struggled to move two 300kg+ drowsy boars into the boat, but the rescue was eventually successful and the team left with smiles on their faces, ready for the next mission.

Responding to emergency calls to the Department of National Parks hotline, these dedicated veterinarians had to save not only primates and ungulates, but also carnivores, such as tigers kept by private owners.

It makes you wonder why those animals were trapped inside a concrete jungle in the first place, instead of roaming free in the wild...

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Cover story

The Zookeeper’s Secret?

Remember the National Geographic Television series Crimes Against Nature? A key episode focused on Thai police and FREELAND’s hot pursuit of a major tiger trafficking syndicate.

While the show documented a professional undercover operation that netted several arrests, it ended without an arrest of the big boss – “to be continued”. Well, the arrest finally happened. On July 7th, FREELAND was on the scene at a newly constructed zoo in Chaiyaphum Thailand as authorities searched the premise.

Suddenly, a sound was heard from a small enclosure behind the tiger cages – a small cry that caught an investigator’s attention.

Police got a closer look and inside the enclosure found two leopards in a small cage. The owner, unable to produce a permit, was arrested the following week. The zoo is thought to be the cover for a large ongoing wildlife trafficking business.

“Wildlife laundering’ is becoming more common as zoos and farms proliferate throughout Asia. The zoo owners legally purchase wildlife for their zoo, and use their permits to cover illegally trafficked animals.

The accused in this case is well connected and reportedly may strike back in order to protect her business. FREELAND continues to follow the case as it proceeds in Thai court, and is supporting authorities in their efforts to see justice served.

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Strengthening PROTECTion of Asia’s Forests Wildlife and forests continue to come under fierce attack by poachers, traffickers and illegal loggers across Asia. FREELAND is working with governments to stop poaching at the source.

Designed to dramatically improve the security of Asia’s remaining forest reserves through enhanced patrolling and law enforcement, FREELAND’s PROTECT (Protected area Operational and Tactical Enforcement Conservation Training) program provides rangers with the tools they need to do their jobs effectively and safely. On August 22nd 2011, forest rangers from across Asia began intensive counter poaching operations training in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, under the USAID funded ARREST (Asia’s Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking) program. 45 park rangers from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos and Thailand trained together for two weeks under the guidance of experienced instructors at the Regional Nature Protection Training Center in Thailand.

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A Day at the Races FREELAND Launches Wildlife Campaign in Laos Each year, thousands of people from around Lao PDR flock to Vientiane for the Boun Souang Heua, a festival of music, culture, and a famous boat race along the Mekong River. This year, from October 11th to 13th, wild animals (or rather, volunteers dressed up in tiger and bear suits) roamed the riverbank drawing crowds.

These mascots were a popular part of the launch of an awareness campaign, led by FREELAND with local government and NGO partners, to engage the Lao public on the issue of wildlife trafficking.

An estimated 90,000 festival goers passed by the campaign’s booth, around 450 children were engaged in educational quiz and drawing activities, and over 5,000 campaign stickers distributed to the public, vendors, taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. The USAID funded campaign is being expanded more permanently at Vientiane’s international airport to reach tourists and travellers.

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Creating a Gamechanger FREELAND Convenes Emergency Brainstorm on Demand Reduction Experts from across Asia gathered in Bangkok mid-November for an emergency strategy development session co-hosted by the JWT Advertising firm and FREELAND Foundation to explore new ways to address the region’s massive and growing consumption of endangered wildlife. Conservationists, biologists, consumers, advertising and market research experts all joined the “Emergency Brainstorm: ARRESTing Depletion of Asia’s Wildlife” to discuss the drivers of the illegal trade in species such as tigers, bears, elephant ivory and pangolins. The session also tapped into the minds of a former wildlife poacher and a wildlife trafficker for insight. JWT is using all of these inputs to design several campaign concepts for reducing demand for endangered animals and derivative products, and also to encourage increased wildlife trade regulation and enforcement.

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Bridging the Continents to Save African Wildlife Recently, FREELANDERs have been building new connections in response to a deadly new surge in the trade of African wildlife to Asia. Illegal ivory shipments between Africa and Asia currently measure in the tons, and the rhino horn trade to China is booming. While Asian and African authorities have had successful busts resulting in large confiscations of these shipments, there has been little collaboration between the continents. This is something FREELAND is helping to change. In November, FREELAND participated in the annual governing council meeting of the regional wildlife law enforcement network known as the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As part of the meeting, FREELAND had the opportunity to present the connections between Africa and Southeast Asia in the illegal wildlife trade, specifically in ivory. The visit helped solidify support for increased cooperation between law enforcement on the two continents.

PAWS FOR THOUGHT With help from Khao Yai and Thap Lan National Park staff, FREELAND’s Mobile Education Unit visited nearby schools and communities to help children and adults learn more about the importance of wildlife and habitat conservation. Through group activities, including lessons, songs and pantomime, the Mobile Unit has engaged hundreds of local children so far this year, steering them and their families away from unsustainable poaching and illegal logging, while encouraging greater community participation in forest conservation. With support from the AustraliaThailand Institute, FREELAND worked with Free the Bears Fund to develop a new bear conservation focused curriculum for the first of two special Youth Camps involving five local schools during December 14-16 at Khao Yai National Park.

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A new feature telling the stories of FREELAND’s diverse staff

Four Questions for Uttara Mendiratta

Uttara Mendiratta is one of the newest FREELANDERs. As a program officer based in India, she is helping to strengthen South Asia’s response to wildlife trafficking as part of the ARREST program. Uttara brings 14 years of experience working as a conservationist in India. As a part of new feature highlighting our dedicated staff, we asked Uttara four questions: 1. When did you know that you wanted to be a conservationist?

When I graduated after studying history in university, I decided I was going to spend a year volunteering with a wildlife NGO. My fascination for wildlife dated back many years. Along with my dad, I had collected every magazine article on wildlife I could find for years, but somehow the thought of being a conservationist never occurred. Once I started as a volunteer I never left. I realized I enjoyed this more than anything else.

2. What do you find the most rewarding or motivating about your work?

It is an amazing feeling to be able to watch wild animals and to think that you might have in some small way contributed to their conservation.

credit: M.O. Anand

3. What are some unique challenges to working in this field in India?

Perhaps the unique challenge in India is gaining the trust of all the stakeholders involved. India’s conservation history has been marked by highly polarized debates about conservation strategies, which has divided the conservation community and diluted the combined strength of those who wish to or are obliged to protect wildlife and forests.

4. What are the things you hope that FREELAND can accomplish in South Asia over the next few years?

FREELAND Foundation’s experience in helping governments in South East Asia to strengthen their enforcement against poaching and trafficking syndicates offers a great opportunity for South Asian countries. I hope that these governments will use FREELAND Foundation’s expertise to bring about long-lasting improvements to the way enforcement agencies operate, and make them more efficient at handling aspects of their work like patrolling forest areas, investigating wildlife crime, and helping to prosecute wildlife criminals. It will also be a great experience for FREELAND Foundation to work in South Asian Countries that have seen many successful conservation efforts worth learning from.

News briefs from Around

Bolstering Southeast Asian Borders Against Wildlife Trafficking: In August and September, FREELAND participated in awareness events on trans-national trafficking for border officials in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Border officials were briefed on ways to identify and stop the trafficking of a wide range of items including wildlife and timber.

These workshops are bringing participants up-to-date on new trafficking and smuggling trends and methods, and providing instruction on how to respond to these crimes.

the Region Building Crossborder Cooperation to Investigate Trafficking Syndicates: In September, as part of their ongoing response to wildlife trafficking across the Thai-Lao border, officials from the two countries met in Udon Thani, Thailand for an intensive bilateral meeting.

The three-day meeting, sponsored by FREELAND, allowed participants to exchange information on the criminal networks behind the illicit trade.

It also opened joint investigations aimed at apprehending the leaders of these networks.

credit: Chrisgel Ryan Cruz

On October 7th, a team of government investigators and NGO activists from Bangkok visited Jakarta to reach out to their Indonesian counterparts and find ways to stop cross-border wildlife trafficking. To highlight the problem, FREELAND hosted a special event for press, government officials and NGO representatives, including a special screening of the Bahasa Indonesian version of a film from the new National Geographic TV documentary series Crimes Against Nature’. Featuring FREELAND and Royal Thai Police efforts to counter illegal trade, the film opened discussion on Indonesia’s role and response.

credit: Chrisgel Ryan Cruz

Sparking Discussions of Wildlife Trafficking and Solutions in Indonesia

FREELAND has been working with National Geographic Explorer TV to produce a forthcoming documentary on human trafficking. The film crew followed investigators as they probed the Thai sex trade and criminals profiting from human slavery.

Image blurred to protect operative identities ( Original photo Š Philip Blenkinsop / Noor )

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Participants in the DETECT Investigation training course in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, participate in mock operations, where they practiced evidence processing (above) and arrests (below). The training, from November 25th to December 1, 2011, provided Cambodian Judicial Police officers with instruction on each phase of a wildlife crime investigation.

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Rhinos on the Brink The number of rhinos poached in Africa has risen sharply over the past year, with more than 400 killed.

Nearly all of the horns are being trafficked to Southeast Asia and China. A sharp increase in demand in these countries has raised the price of rhino horn to over $55,000 a kilogram, making it more valuable than gold.

FREELAND is currently supporting an ongoing investigation by authorities in Thailand and South Africa into an international crime ring responsible for the slaughter of Rhinos.

In recent months, the investigation has led to the arrest of three men accused of smuggling horns to Asia. FREELAND is committed to supporting international efforts to save Rhinos from extinction.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Report anything you see that looks suspicious to us at info@freeland.org We will follow up.

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It’s a big problem, but together we can be a bigger solution!

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