A wild gaur as a tourist attraction

Every day, about a hundred visitors come to a village in Chumphon. They come to see a wild gaur that suddenly appeared three months ago. The villagers are happy with the influx. They are even considering building an observation post and they want to put a fence around the area where the animal lives, to prevent it from being killed by poachers or from running off.

The interest from outsiders is not surprising, because gaurs are quite rare in Thailand. A recent study found that some XNUMX to XNUMX gaurs live in small herds of four or five in Ngao Waterfall National Park, a protected forest area stretching across Chumphon and Ranong.

It is suspected that the gaur or crate, as he is called in Thai, comes from such a herd. According to Kriangsak Sribuarod, head of the Khlong Saeng Wildlife Research Center in Surat Thani, the animal is a male, about four or five years old and weighs about 600 kilograms. Adult gaurs can weigh more than a ton. The gaur is a protected species and that is necessary, because it is constantly threatened by poachers.

Not only because of tourism, the villagers are happy with the gaur, but they hope that it will mate with the cows they keep. That is not impossible, as it has been reported from Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. 'From a game conservation point of view, this is detrimental because it spoils a pure breed,' says Kriangsak. "But it is possible that the cross-breeding will be economically beneficial because it produces a new breed of larger cattle with more meat." And that's what the villagers have pinned their hopes on.

The gaur seems to be having a good time in the small hamlet of Moo 8 of tambon Tako. Gaurs typically live in sparsely wooded areas with a mix of large and small trees. They do not like open grasslands because of the sun. The animal already seems to be familiar with both the villagers and the cattle. It also forages in the oil palm plantation of the Chumphon College of Agriculture and Technology, an area of ​​600 rai. The plantation is an ideal feeding ground for the gaur and local cattle; it is a green area with lots of water.

Immediately after the animal was spotted, the center in Surat Thani sent XNUMX officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) to the village to observe it around the clock. Kringsak does not know what the DNP's plans are. Stunning the animal and returning it to its habitat is risky. When the anesthetic is too strong, it will have a heart attack; when it is too weak, it resists and flees into the woods.

In the meantime, the visitors keep coming and villagers hope that they can eat rusks with mice one day.

(Source: bangkok mail, October 5, 2013)