Dead Gaurs in Kui Buri national park

Just a couple of days ago I got to see a herd of Gaur in Khao Yai, it had been a while since my last sighting, so was happy to see them again. But when back home, I read the terrible news from Kui Buri national park. 13 Gaurs found dead, thought to have died from poisoning or disease, it is still not sure how it happened, and more Gaurs might still be at risk.

www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/386365/...-cause-of-gaur-death

Today it was shown again in a news broadcast, still no clue what has happened. Let's hope they soon find out before any more deaths occur.

In the same news broadcast, a 'home video' was shown of some crazy lunatic (that's my opinion...) was hitting a wild Serow that, from what I understood, had wandered out of the forest into a farm area, I believe in Saraburi.
Very disturbing to look at. After several times being hit with some sort of stick in its face and on its legs the animal fell and you see the guy raise the stick high above his head to hit the animal at full power on its body. Absolutely disgusting, but the 'good' news is that the guy was arrested. When watching this behaviour I loose faith in mankind...

But lets end with a positive note on the first Christmas day. Last week I visited a very small temple North of Pak Chong. Just to look at some small, but pretty waterfalls. One of the three resident monks showed us around and told he had seen Serow several times. I thought he was maybe talking about sightings of 20 years ago, but it turned out that just a month or so ago he even saw a young fawn. Besides Serow, he had seen paw marks of bear, never in real life though.
This area is not within nor near a national park, just some forested limestone mountains. Good to hear non-protected areas like that are still inhabited by wildlife. I more or less assumed any animal larger than a squirrel would have been wiped out by locals in these kind of areas. My wrong. It would actually be interesting to research these areas with camera traps to learn more about the wildlife inhabiting these areas.

Excuse me for the long post ;).

On the serow topic, this is the video. I am in no doubt the guy was trying to kill it.

The incident occurred at the big TPI cement factory before Khao Yai.



The Nation has a much more balanced article on both stories at Nation Gaur and Serow coverage .

Thanks for sharing the Nation's article. It clarifies a lot.

And for some reason it makes me believe that the guy trying to kill the Serow might have been ordered to do so by his superiors. I can't see what's in it for him. The only one that profits from serow-less limestone mountains is the cement factory. But I might be wrong...

The Nation has a well written follow-up on the story today, still no confirmation of cause CLICK HERE .

I do like the fact The Nation reports news like this in a neutral and factual manner. Just as journalism should be.

ADDENDUM : additional coverage HERE

Good to hear the park officials are monitoring the Gaur herds and know about the herds that are foraging in the same area where these deaths occurred.
What if this 90 Gaur herd would be lost as well...
Let's pray they get to the bottom of this and solve the causes.

Another update from the Nation CLICK HERE stating that the number has now risen to 23.

The Bangkok Post also carries a similar "report", but with their usual twist of innuendo and opinion.

Thai Rath Article

Seems they now think its a bacterial infection ( Clostridium novyi ) - but still not 100% conclusive. Their issue now is that if it is, how to eradicate it?

Sadly the Google translate is not very good.