Shocking: Chiang Mai Night Safari to Serve Up Exotic Animals on the Menu
 

A disturbing article/update from the Born Free Foundation on the Thai Prime Minister's buying of Kenya's wildlife.

http://www.bornfree.org.uk/chiangmai/051117kenya.shtml

There's several addresses to write to if anyone wants to help stop this atrocity.

Sent my e-mail to Tourism Minister.

Is there any kind of possibility that this buffet of meat is not purchased from game farms. No judgements yet.

I still think it's atrocity to

A)import 175 wild animals from Africa

and

B)serve the same animals up on a platter.

I don't know about you, but it wouldn't make a difference to me where the "game" meat came from.

It doesn't sit well with me any way you look at it. That's just my humble opinion.

Those that want to send letters can, those that don't want to, don't have to.

hi, the first thing that came to my mind as i am reading even for a few seconds:
HYPOCRITES. thats what it is. i remember emailing someone at KWS many months ago about this when it first was mentioned. i begged this person to try and stop it.
thats the one of the last places these wild animals should be.
yes, i ate at the Carnivore Rest. in Nairobi. but i will never ever try game meat. thats makes me, i feel a: Hypocrite.
same thing here.
david

I can only say Africa is basically 3rd world. If some game farms can make a living selling game meat, all the more power to them. The farms employ quite a few people, thats better than none. Even more people have no problem going to the Carnivore Rest. in Jo'berg or Nairobi or even eating kudu/ostrich jerky. These are not endangered animals and I can't see much difference between a kudo and a deer.

hi, i don't eat deer either. or go to game dinners here in the states.
that H word.
thx, d

If the animals have been raised on a game farm, specifically for meat, the situation is no different than anywhere else in the world. Almost every country imports meats, a lot of it from fairly cute animals.

And that is one of the many reasons that "fairly cute" animals reach the threatened and/or endangered species lists.

There are in depth articles about the Thai Prime Minister's desire to import all these animals from Kenya.
Many conservation groups opposed and do oppose the idea of this. Especially when the same type of animals are then served for meals.

Those of you who think it's no big deal to eat lion, tiger, ele, giraffe, zebra etc., (or any type of bushmeat) wherever it may come from, more power to you.

Like I said, everyone's opinion differs.

But those of us who care are the ones that this thread is targeting. And some of us will send the emails to the appropriate people.

I wasn't trying to start a debate, just reaching out to those of us who want to try to help.

The rest of you can choose to ignore the article and the thread.

Is this serious? Are they going to serve tiger meat? It sounds unbelievable. Even if it’s not true and there will only be some meat from crocs, ostriches, gazelles etc, I don’t like it at all. Even less do I like the idea that wild Kenyan animals are going to spend their lives imprisoned in Thailand.

I would not say that the Carnivore “experience” is the same as eating venison. If it were a normal local restaurant where you could have some traditional game meat from unthreatened species - maybe. Now it’s more like a trap for tourists with a bizarre curiosity. And, how strict is the control of where the meat comes from? The demand for game meat is good news for poachers who are selling bushmeat as meat from domestic animals to normal restaurants in Nairobi.

Daudi, you didn’t have any game meat at the Carnivore.

sue, are you asking me if i had any game meat? not sure if you are or not. i just had the regular everyday stuff. oh i think i tried camel. that tasted aweful. gave it to kashu.
ok kinda busy for this, catch ya later.
d

Thailand is another country that eats anything that moves. I would rather see it happening in a regulated manner, then poached. If these countries can grow wildlife and sell them, sustaining the wildlife and rewarding the farmers/ranchers,I say great, let them do it.

But lets not be 2 faced about it. Who says anything about the French eating our horses? There are plenty of other examples. In the end, as long as it doesn't endanger the species. Don't you realize one of the benefits of having commercial demand is that it actually encourages the growth of things like game farms. In South Africa, It has resulted in an abundance of a many wildlife and in effect a source of renewing game and conservation parks.

D, I just reminded you in case you had forgotten - you didn't drink any water either.

Lest we forget the many diseases that humans can catch from eating bushmeat.
That's a proven fact.

And just because it's not stated, all of us are not for the slaughtering of horses for their meat either. I oppose that as strongly as I do eating the wild game. Just as I oppose the cats and dogs and monkeys etc., eaten in many Asian and other countries.

Let's think about the game "farms" for human consumption. Sure...let it be known that people can raise tigers, and eles, and lions, and gorillas and dogs and cats then kill them for food.

Who's to say that people in these third world countries will only "cultivate" or "eat" those that are raised on the farms? It hasn't worked yet and I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

But these are supposedly educated folks we're talking about who are buying these wild animals for educational (and I use that term loosely) purposes. To teach conservation and how important it is to save wildlife.

Yet these same people turn around and serve the animals up on a platter. Let's see how the story would go...

"Here's a giraffe or topi or lion in all its majesty. Isn't it beautiful...and here it is on my dinner plate. Yummy, wanna taste?"

Who again, is being two-faced?

There really are several subsections to this discussion:

1. Whether it's right for an educational institution to offer up for consumption the objects of its study.

2. Whether the meat is farm-raised or wild-caught.

3. Whether a particular species should or should not be used as food.

4. Whether any fauna at all should be used as a food source.

Personally I find #1 reprehensible.
As to #2, I have no problems with any farm-raised food. Wild-caught is is fine for plentiful species (and commonly done worldwide) but reprehensible for endangered species.

#s 3 and 4 are personal issues, culturally based, and I doubt anyone could sustain any good argument against another's opinion.

I will jump in with my own thoughts - keeping in mind that these are only my opinions but are shared by many others. First I think this idea of sending animals to the Thais and the thought of them eating them is despicable. So is, to name only one issue, the unspeakable cruetly inflicted upon dogs in some Asian countries before they are eaten.

Since we've digressed to talk about vegetarianism and I will make the assumption that most on this board care about the environment, so to you I will only offer this (with compassion): If you are an American or someone whose country imports our commercially/conventionally grown livestock - and if these things grace your table, you are not an environmentalist. Because, what you are supporting is the unbelievable output of water, pesticides and herbicides (which go right back into the water suppley) to grow thousands upon thousands of acres of grain to feed ---- not people --- but livestock. I don't have the figures right here, but the ratio of grain and water used to produce one pound of beef is a...well it's a disgrace. So, in the spirit of the upcoming holiday season I would urge those of you who eat meat to consider buying it from smaller producers who treat their animals with respect and feed them properly. (Which for a cow, would be grass, not grain.) I could go on and on about how out of whack our ag system is in this country, but this is an Africa forum. So, sorry for the diatribe, and understand that I know all too well how emotional an issue this is, and I am not pointing fingers or criticizing anyone .

Peace,
((@))