Thailand releases 9 endangered deer

Source: Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Thailand on Friday released nine critically endangered deer from a species that vanished from the wild three decades ago, in a bid to bring ecological balance to one of the country's national parks.

The nine Thamin deer were released with radio collars into Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in central Thailand. They joined 25 others that were set free in May as part of a five-year program by the Thai government and universities, the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park and the Wildlife Conservation Society established to save the deer, which have disappeared in the wild in Thailand but still remain in neighboring Myanmar.

"If we don't do this, the deer will go extinct forever," said Boripat Siriaroonrat, research veterinarian at the state-sponsored Zoological Park Organization, who took part in the release. "Somebody needs to bring them back. They are a missing piece of the ecosystem."

The deer — famous for males that have C-shaped antlers — were once a common site in Thailand but were driven to near extinction by habitat loss and hunting. They are part of a family known as Eld's deer, which includes the Sangai deer in India and the Siamese Eld's deer in Cambodia and Laos.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyXNUsp8pTFIhfqpmeS7ovL2tGTQD92E1JI00

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A little bit of good news for today...

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