good quality animal experiences in Phuket???

do you know of any....that are great to do?

Surely there have to be some that don%26#39;t include animals doing tricks or animal cruelty

good quality animal experiences in Phuket???

http://www.gibbonproject.org/ is the real gibbon rehabilitation center.

Avoid participating in activities like photos with snakes, feeding bananas to baby elephants on the street, supporting businesses that keep wild animals as part of their attraction. This kind of thing will continue as long as there is demand...but if there is no demand, it will stop as there will be no money to be made.

good quality animal experiences in Phuket???

Hi there,

We visited a Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre, which is in the heart of a national park. Was only small, and was heart breaking but really interesting and gave us the opportunity to donate and support the Gibbons to be rehabilitated after human cruelty from being used as pets and tourist attractions. Not sure exacbly where it is..roughly in the centre of the island. We hired a car to go there but there are probably tours available.

We also visited a temple on a day tour which has a large population of gibbons that live wild all around the area. They are semi tame and you can buy bananas to feed them. Was a great experience to get up close to them and see the mum%26#39;s with their little babies.

Thanks. Although I have thought about visting the Gibbon Rehab I was wondering whether there was anything else that involves looking at animals,learning about them or experiencing somethin gspecia, which just doesn%26#39;t include animal cruelty or animals doing tricks.

Is the Gibbon Rehab it in Phuket?

The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project is at Bang Pae, in the north east of Phuket. I have some further info here; members.virtualtourist.com/m/9045f/160bcd/4/

Just scroll down.

Were they macaques or gibbons at that temple? I%26#39;ve only ever heard of macaques being at temples. Would be very interested to know if there was a place with gibbons.

Aspen, the only animal friendly activities I know of in Phuket are buying food to feed the dogs at the temples or to volunteer at the Soi Dog Foundation or at the Phuket Animal Welfare Society. Look them up on their websites.

http://www.soidog.org/

phuket-animal-welfare.com/animal_stories.htm

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/animals.asp

If you wish to buy some food for the dogs at the temples, the vet food is best, but whether you get the food there or at Big C, get the smallest sized biscuits, as the puppies cannot eat the larger ones. Lotus does not have a small biscuit one, well, not in the large bags. We either buy from the vet (very expensive, but nutritious) or from Big C. If you can%26#39;t find anyone around at the temple, just open the bag and give the dogs a bit of food, then leave the bag under a tree. There are people who come to feed the dogs when food is supplied. Other than that, seek out the monks.

Thanks alot Anthea for your reply. I had a look at some of the websites, my heart was breaking.

I%26#39;ve only been to Phuket once before, going again in June. Forgive me for my ignorance, but how would I find the temple? Is it close enough to Patong Beach? I had a look at the 2 dog shelters maps, couldn%26#39;t for the life of me recongnise where these places were.

Just want to do something little for the animals, would it be ok if I saw a stray dog/s on the street to feed it dog food, or is that a bad thing to do in the central shopping area? Are there reliable and trustworthy places in the patong area to donate money to to help with the dogs?

I wish I%26#39;d known about the Elephant rehab place an hr out of Changi Mai...is that too far for a daytrip from Patong? the bathing, feeding thing is exactly what I would have preferred to do, rahter than watching tricks or even riding them at Koh Chang

Sorry as u can see I%26#39;m a typical tourist, just know my way around the basic areas of Phuket.

thanks Karen

Karen, Chiang Mai is in the far north of Thailand, way too far to get to unless you%26#39;re spending a few days there.

I don%26#39;t see why there would be a problem with you feeding a street dog. I do.

The temples we usually buy food for are Wat Kreung and Wat Chalong. At Wat Chalong the feed area is at the back of the temple. At Wat Kreung in Phuket Town, we give the food to the monks. There are only a few dogs there, though.

Most temples have dogs abandoned there. To donate to Soi Dog Foundation or Paws, just drop money into one of their collection boxes which you see around.

thanks Anthea, things are a little clearer now, will go to a temple, husband will think I%26#39;m crazy to be buying dog food b4 we go, he can take the pictures of the temple, I%26#39;ll just make sure the dogs have a decent meal! Thanks for your help.

I see the Fantasia thread is shaping up to be a ';good';one

Haha, not really. They delete everything I put in there. I sent you a pm.