Adopt a Raptor

About the Adopt a Raptor:

Adopt-a-Raptor is a program for the rehabilitation of raptor species and other large endangered wild birds for release back to the wild where they belong to. The program is inspired by “Fly the Vulture Home” project that since January 2007, had been the first rehabilitation and release of a famous Cinereous Vulture, named “Anakin the Vulture” and other four starved Himalayan Griffons in Thailand. Operated by Kasetsart University Raptor Rehabilitation Center (KURRC) at Kasetsart University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (KUFVM) in partnership with the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) and Thai Raptor Group (TRG), it is initiated to offer opportunities for birders or members of the public in general to take part in rehabilitation of injured or weak wild birds that fall down to earth due to starvation or loss of direction, so that their life would be extended and they could return to live by themselves as wild birds.

In brief, an injured wild bird referred to the KUBRC will receive a complete veterinary examination and care at KUFVM’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital at its Bangkhen Campus and then be moved to a 5x6x24 meter, flight pen for a period of flight and hunting practice at its Kamphaengsaen Campus, Nakorn Pathom Province. Biometric data will be recorded when rehabilitated birds gain back their health. It will then be tagged with a leg band, a wing tag, or a satellite telemetry, depending on its size and the center’s available budget, for monitoring and scientific studies of migration pattern in case that it is a migratory bird. The bird will finally be released to the wild at appropriate habitats and seasons when it is considered by expert veterinarians to be certain that the rehabilitated and released feathered creatures would be able to survive and thrive on their own. Any bird that fails this benchmark i.e., permanently disabled such as eye blindness due to senile cataract or loss of hunting instinct would be kept in captivity as an “educational ambassador of nature”.

The Adopt-a-Raptor Program is a unique way to learn about raptors and other wild birds, while supporting their rehabilitation for release to the wild at the same time! When you participate in this program, you help providing care for one of resident birds in the center, which serve as educational ambassadors for the natural world. The program aims to care for and release as many injured wild birds of all species as possible. That is why we need your generous support.

Adoption:

Any individual or group of birders or members of the general public could participate in this rehabilitation program from the beginning when any bird is admitted to KURRC until it is released to the wild by expressing their wish of adopting a rehabilitated bird, helping cover food and medical expenses of the bird at the following rates:

1. Hawks and owls 4,400 Baht
2. Eagles and vultures 7,700 Baht

These rates are for a bird until it is released with a maximum validity of 12 months from the date of adoption. Apart from adopting ‘your’ bird, you can also give an adoption as a gift to other persons or institutions too!

When a raptor is admitted for rehabilitation at KURRC, a request for adoption will be made public on the web board of BCST (www.bcst.or.th) and TRG (www.thairaptorgroup.com) websites.

Benefits of the Adoptor(s)

Adopt a bird, you may receive:

1. One 8 x 10 inch color photograph of your adopted bird,

2. A certificate and a fact sheet, giving general biological information of the bird,

3. Monthly updates on the progress of the bird’s condition and rehabilitation,

4. An opportunity to take part in releasing the adopted bird back to the wild at a site deemed suitable to be its habitat where the decision is made by KUBRC veterinarians that such a bird is potentially ready for naturally thriving by itself.

5. Behind-the-scene visit to your adopted bird at the KURRC raptor enclosures upon advanced appointment in case that it is permanently disabled and needed to be kept in captivity for the rest of its life as an ‘educational ambassador of nature’.

6. Free yearly subscription of BCST e-newsletter.

Contact

To participate in the program, please contact:

Ms.Pajaree Intravooth

Assistant to the Executive Director

Bird Conservation Society of Thailand

Tel: 02 691 4816, 02 691 5976, 02 691 4493; E-mail: pajaree@bcst.or.th

About the Organizations

Kasetsart University Raptor Rehabilitation Center

KURRC is operated by Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine under a 2007 Memorandum of Understanding on academic collaboration for wildlife rehabilitation and recovery program between the Faculty, the university’s Faculty of Forestry, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand under the Royal Patronage.

KURRC aims to rehabilitate injured raptors and other large endangered wild birds for release back to the nature, which would contribute to maintain the population of wild birds being threatened towards extinction and to educate the public about large wild birds in general and raptors in particular through rehabilitation for release program.

The program mainly runs with generous donations from private sectors, institutions and the public to a fund managed by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand. Donations may be directed to:

Wild Bird Rehabilitation and Release Fund

Savings account no. 240-202731-1

Siam Commercial Bank pcl., Tesco Lotus Fortune Town Branch

For more information, please visit www.bcst.or.th or www.thairaptorgroup.org

Bird Conservation Society of Thailand

Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) is one of Thailand’s longest-established non-profit organizations for wildlife conservation. It was first set-up as the Bangkok Bird Club in 1962 by the “Father of Nature Conservation in Thailand”, the late Dr. Boonsong Lekagul. In order to play a fuller role in promoting conservation of birds and their habitats, the nature, the club was registered as a legal entity and received a permit to become the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand on 12 July 1993. In 1996, BCST became a full partner of BirdLife International, a global partnership of bird conservation bodies operating in over one-hundred countries and territories with over 2,500,000 members worldwide. Practically, BCST is the BirdLife in Thailand.

Apart from rehabilitation of injured wild birds, BCST’s current programs include recovery of the critically-endangered Gurney’s Pitta in Krabi Province, conservation of important bird areas (IBAs), particularly the Inner Gulf of Thailand as one of the largest resting places and stop-over sites for migratory birds, including critically-endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank, in the East-Asia Pacific Flyway, Bird Walk and Bird Garden with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Core Environment Program and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative with BirdLife Asia and its partners in Greater Mekong Sub-region, annual Thailand Bird Festival, and Thailand Bird Conservation Network.

You can be a part of the global movement to protect our natural heritage through research, education and conservation activities, designed to engage individuals and communities in the active care of birds and environment by becoming a BCST member and gain privileges to several benefits. To apply for membership or get more information, please visit our website, www.bcst.or.th

Thai Raptor Group

Thai Raptor Group (TRG) is a non-profit group of Thai raptor enthusiasts, who come join together to compile field data and thus building up database on migration and natural history of raptors in Thailand, and to provide the data and relevant knowledge about raptors to bird conservation groups and the general public in Thailand, aiming to raise the awareness of raptors as an important indicator of biodiversity.

Thai Raptor Group organizes an annual Raptor Watch Fest in Chumphon in October, autumn migratory raptor watch & count between September and early November, annual census of Aquila eagles and Circus harriers wintering in Thailand. Survey and data collection of residential raptor species such as threatened White-rumped Falcon and locally-endangered Black Kite of race govinda, are regularly performed to monitor the population dynamic. To raise public awareness on raptors, TRG also organizes seminar on raptor identification, biology and other relevant topics for birders and interested individuals of the public.

For more information, please visit www.thairaptorgroup.com