Overview


We work for the wild


The Wildlife Conservation Society founded in 1895 under the name of the New York Zoological Society with its head quarter at Bronx Zoo. Through science base, it has the clear mission to save wildlife and wild places and ecological diversity for several intact sites worldwide.

Wildlife Conservation Society - Thailand Program


THAILAND lies at the crossroads between the Indochinese and Indo-Malayan (Sundaic) subregions of the Oriental zoogeographic region that specifically result the high abundant of plant and animal's diversity. It shelters, for example, 10% of birds from the global rate as well as its high possibility to home the largest number of tiger species in Southeast Asia. With over 200 protected areas of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and wildlife non-hunting areas which covering 17% of the total area of Thailand with permanent staffs on each site, Thailand is considered as the most extensive site management of the region which serves as the basic approach to the long term conservation of wildlife and its habitat.

 

However, the rapidly increased human population during the half past century has resulted 12% of endemic vertebrate species fell in danger. In compare with neighborhood, the wildlife habitat size has been continually minimized remarkably. In the past, the official enforcement to protect, follow, and investigate for wildlife protection was under limitation due to their lack of field research and study for the essential factors to conserving the wildlife.

 

Our history, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Thailand Program originated since 1980 with the initial purpose to support a gibbon's behavior study of Prof. Warren Brockelman and partners. When a WCS researcher, Prof. Alan Rabinowitz, came to pioneer the study of carnivore ecology in Huai Khakhaeng Wildlife Sanctuary during late 1980s, the idea of transboundary conservation had been issued for the first time in this region. During 1997-2004, Wildlife Conservation Society led by Antony Lynam (Ph.D.) continued to support wildlife management and training for Indochinese tiger conservation as well as to support other conservative researches and studies done by the Thai government officers.

 

In 2004, Anak Pattanavibool, Ph.D., is the first Thai biologist who was appointed to direct WCS Thailand Program. Under his governance, WCS Thailand has been working closely with the Thai government and in cooperated with several academic institutes as well as local and international private organizations to achieve its mission to strengthen the science-base conservation principle, in order to preserve the intact wildlife and wild place in Thailand.