Police probe deer hunting in wild animal shelter in Phetchaburi
Phetchaburi provincial police have launched an investigation into illegal hunting in a wild animal shelter in Tha Yang district of Phetchaburi province.
Two deer were separately found shot dead in the 420-rai animal shelter under the care of the Friends of the Animals Foundation. But villagers in the neighbourhood of the shelter told police that the hunters had also killed two wild boars which they took home in their vehicle.
The foundation secretary-general Edwin Week told Thai PBS on Saturday that police were trying to look for clues which might help track down the perpetrators of the crime.
He said hunting of wild animals in the shelter was not the first of its kind, adding that it took place before three years ago and the perpetrators still have not been captured.
He suspected that the same group of hunters was responsible for the latest hunting.
Week admitted that there was not enough manpower to police the entire shelter of 420 rai, especially the unfenced zone where the animals which were mostly harmless were set free to forage for food.
Currently, the shelter boasts 700 animals of about 60 species, including elephants, tigers, barking deer, deer, monkeys and wild boars.
Thailand Animal Rights Alliance, an NGO dedicated to the protection of animal rights, said in its Facebook page on Saturday that the latest wildlife shooting as well as other previous illegal hunting cases, particularly the shooting of a black panther in Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary, were a living proof that there were people in this country who have no respect for the law and no regard whatsoever on wildlife.
