On a small island in Cat Tien National Park, a group of conservationists has big
plans to counter the trade in endangered primates through rehabilitation, research
and education. By Tom DiChristopher.
It is a big day at the Dao Tien
Endangered Primate Species
Centre. Two visiting veterinar-
ians are preparing to conduct
health checks and DNA tests
on the preserve’s newest
residents, Hoa and Binh, a pair
of golden-cheeked gibbons—
and sisters—who have been in
quarantine since their arrival.
Afterwards, the vets will fit four
pygmy lorises with radio collars
in preparation for their release
into the wild. And some time in
the middle of it all, Dao Tien’s
first Vietnamese research intern
will arrive.
The excitement, however, has
made Binh uneasy.
Unlike her sister, Binh is
refusing to cooperate. As she
becomes more agitated, the
expression on primate special-
ist Lee Butler’s face begins to
sour. It’s becoming clear to him
that Binh will not go quietly. He
will have to enter the enclosure
with head keeper Nguyen
Trung Thanh, capture Binh with
a net and then administer the
sedative.
Everyone is feeling sorry
for Binh, but Dao Tien director
Marina Kenyon, PhD sees the
bright side. “That standoffish-
ness will make her great in the
forest one day,” she says.
This small island just beyond
the entrance to Cat Tien Na-
42 asialife HCMC
tional Park is where Binh will
take her first step towards that
goal. Established in 2008, Dao
Tien is the first project of the
Endangered Asian Species Trust
(EAST), a charity established by
the Monkey World Ape Rescue
Centre in Dorset, England, the
sanctuary featured for more
than a decade in the documen-
tary series Monkey Business and
Monkey Life. The mission of
“To keep a social primate on its own is
just cruel. They don’t domesticate. They’ll
never be a pet” – Marina Kenyon
EAST is to abate the wildlife
trade in Asia through rescue,
rehabilitation, research and
education.
It is a natural extension of the
work that has been carried out
since 1987 at Monkey World,
where hundreds of primates
from Europe and Asia have
found refuge. Whereas Monkey
World provides a permanent
home for rescued primates,
Dao Tien seeks to re-establish
wild populations and conduct
conservation studies that protect
them against future threats.
Plight of the Primates
Currently, Dao Tien is home to
27 gibbons, eight lorises and
two black- shanked doucs. The
trade in all three primates is ille-
gal in Vietnam, but black market
channels continue to circumvent
overtaxed authorities and feed
the demand for primate pets.
“It’s not hard to get a pet gib-
bon if you ask the right people,”
says Kenyon. “Even if you
know nothing, you could soon
ask a pet shop or find the right
place, and if you wave enough
money around—about five, six
hundred dollars—you’ll have a
pet gibbon in a week.”
The figurative price of secur-
ing a gibbon is far higher. To
capture a baby gibbon, hunters
shoot its parents and adolescent
siblings. The slaughtered gib-
bons can then be sold as bush-
meat or for use in traditional
medicine. The orphaned babies
find their way to tourist centres
or into the hands of affluent
individuals. (The exchange of
exotic pets remains part of the
lavish gift-giving culture among
the rich despite its illegality.)
Sadly, pet gibbons essentially
have a shelf life of less than a
decade for the same reason that
their parents and siblings are
useless to pet traders. When a
gibbon reaches 7 or 8 years of
age, it will begin to bite and
attack its owner as part of its
natural play. When this hap-
pens, they’re often abandoned
or killed.
“To keep a social primate on
its own is just cruel,” says Ke-
nyon. “They don’t domesticate.
They’ll never be a pet.”
Dao Tien gets that message
out by working with local
international schools to educate
children of affluent families,
some of whom may own pet
primates. The goal is to sensitize
them to the animals, and it
seems to be working; a recent
colouring activity turned up
pictures of gibbons outfitted
with defensive claws, stones to
throw at hunters and pouches to
protect their young.
Healing Wounds
It would be a mistake, however,
to view the demand end of the
pet trade as symptomatic of
regional culture. Many of the
primates at Monkey World have
been confiscated from European
owners, and the United States
registers as the second most
profitable market for wildlife
products after China. The Dao
Tien team has seen evidence
that this is not just an Asian
Photo provided by Dao Tien Endangered Primate Species Centre
problem, as well.
One of the gibbons currently
being prepped for release, Lucy,
was rescued from an expatriate
American couple, who Kenyon
describes as “bright, intelligent
business people.” However,
Lucy’s condition suggested
that her owners had done little
to educate themselves on her
needs. When she arrived at Dao
Tien, she was half the size a gib-
bon her age should be.
“They fed her only banana.
They gave her no water,” says
Kenyon. “They said, ‘If she
wants to go get some water, she
can go to the toilet.’”
More difficult to remedy than
physical ailments is the mental
toll isolation takes on primates.
Deprived of mental stimulation
and interaction with their kind,
gibbons often develop what Lee
Butler calls “stereotypic behav-
iour,” such as wrapping their
legs around their necks.
“Boredom brings it on and it
becomes a habit,” says Butler.
“Generally, when you get them
with their own it goes to the
background, but it’s always
there.”
Butler says the problem is
that owners don’t realize the
damage they’re doing. “Basi-
cally, what we’re trying to do is
give back what they’ve taken
away,” he says.
Two Heads Better Than One?
While rehabilitation is a critical
step, Dao Tien is not meant to be
a long-term home. The ultimate
hope for every primate is release
into the wild. Conventional
wisdom says gibbons that are
rehabilitated together should be
released together, but Kenyon
believes there’s little scientific
basis to back existing release
guidelines and plans to test
prevailing assumptions.
Kenyon’s theory is that a
single gibbon released at the
age it would normally leave its
family could potentially thrive
better in the wild. The challenge
of following a mate through
unfamiliar territory, she says,
might actually increase stress
and potentially make it more
difficult to find a mate.
“If you’re a pair released
… you’re no use to anyone
because you’re your own unit,”
explains Kenyon. “But if you’re
a female released, all the males
are going to quite like you. If
you’re a male released, all the
females gibbons are receptive to
transient males.”
To test her theory, Kenyon
plans to release three pairs,
three single females and three
single males. Whether or not it
checks out—Kenyon admits it
may not—the experiment will
yield a worthwhile result. Dao
Tien researchers will use infor-
mation gathered while tracking
the gibbons to write procedures
for release in Vietnam. Often,
animals are released without
being screened for diseases
or DNA-tested to determine
whether they are native. The
hope is that smarter releases
will translate into higher sur-
vival rates.
Dao Tien’s research has
already turned up unexpected
results. After releasing two lor-
ises in the wet season, the staff
were surprised to find they had
dashed all over the island, ven-
turing as far as 800 metres from
their sleep sites. Little is known
about the wild pygmy loris, so
information like this stands to
shed light on these nocturnal
primates.
“The process here is slow,
but at the end of it, we can have
guidelines about how to release
each animal,” says Kenyon.
With the wildlife trade still
thriving, and given primates’
relatively long maturation pe-
riod, it’s clear why boosting the
survival rates of wild releases
is a priority. Armed with sound
release procedures, Vietnam’s
Forest Protection Department
and other organizations can give
primates a fighting chance.
For more information about EAST
or to schedule a visit or make a
donation, visit www.go-east.org.
asialife HCMC 43