ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
November 21, 2016
Organic farms help Thailand
welcome cranes lost for 50 years
By Martha Mendoza
The Associated Press
URIRAM, Thailand — A
fuzzy-headed baby sarus
crane hatched on a rural
farm this fall offers a glimmer of hope
for wildlife conservationists, organic
farming advocates, and a nation
grieving after the death of their
beloved king. That’s because a
chubby chick named Rice is the first
of its auspicious species to survive
after hatching in the wild in Thailand
in 50 years.
The tallest flying birds in the
world, 70 incubator-hatched, hand-
fed sarus cranes have been raised
and released over the past five years
in Thailand’s farm-rich northeast
province of Buriram, whooping their
startling two-toned song at dawn.
“The older generations told us
about these cranes, they said they
bring luck, but when I actually saw
one in my field I was so excited,”
village leader Thongpoon Unjit
said.
He and dozens of other farmers
stopped using pesticides and parked
their noisy tractors to help the birds
survive. They hand-harvest for acres
and leave large swaths untouched
around nests.
Already the birds have brought
good fortune: The farmers’ organic
rice sells for a premium at Bangkok
supermarkets.
Forty-two of the cranes released in
the wild have survived so far, and
eight are living in monogamous pairs.
But until now none have managed to
successfully reproduce. Rice, now
about a month old, likely pecked its
little sibling to death, but that’s to be
expected, say the experts.
“It’s been really fun to watch this
family,” said visiting ornithologist
George Archibald, spying on the
yellow-brown hatchling and its
magenta-topped parents through a
spotting scope. “I’ve been really
touched by the intimacy of the
parents to their juvenile. They’re just
continually watching that chick.”
Archibald, co-founder of the Inter-
national Crane Foundation, has ad-
vised Thai animal scientists through-
out their efforts to reintroduce sarus
cranes, six-foot-tall birds listed as
vulnerable globally and extinct in
Thailand.
“There are many challenges facing
these cranes,” said Archibald. “Will
the farmers tolerate a little bit of
damage in their rice fields? Will there
be too many powerlines? Will the
cranes fly into them? Will this land-
scape that has been absolutely trans-
B
RISKY TESTIMONY. Widows of alleged drug suspects cover their
faces to protect their identities during a senate investigation on drug-re-
lated killings in Pasay, north of Manila, the Philippines, in this September
15, 2016 file photo. The families of most victims in the drug war stay si-
lent. Some who speak out are sheltered by a witness-protection program
run by the Commission on Human Rights, which fears for the safety of
witnesses while cases are investigated. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)
Speaking out for drug war
victims, Filipina goes into hiding
Continued from page 3
that they could not have done so. One of Jaypee’s arms,
they said, had been broken.
It wasn’t the first time a drug suspect was fatally shot in
police detention. A town mayor recently detained for
illegal drugs and gun possession was killed by officers in a
purported gunbattle in his jail cell in central Leyte
province. Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former national police
chief, called for an investigation and suspects the mayor,
Rolando Espinosa Sr., was killed to prevent him from
implicating other officials involved in illegal drugs.
Gascon said the officers in Kazuo’s case may have killed
her husband to cover any links that could connect them to
drug crimes. Kazuo said Jaypee had met the two officers
she accused at least once before, when he bribed them to
get out of a previous drug charge.
The families of most victims in the drug war have stayed
silent for good reason. Philippine media reported the story
of one man who had doggedly pursued justice for months
for his sister, who had been killed by unidentified gunmen
in Manila. The man, who was not under the commission’s
protection, turned up dead in late October.
The death fits a pattern that has characterized
Duterte’s “war”: those who speak out against it, or are
perceived as doing so, often face consequences. They
include journalists who’ve been attacked with hate mail
and death threats by internet trolls, and foreign
governments, rights groups, and critics Duterte has
lambasted personally.
After senator Leila de Lima launched a congressional
probe into reports of extrajudicial killings and called
Kazuo to testify in August, Duterte suggested she resign
and hang herself.
De Lima was later kicked off the probe by Duterte’s
legislative allies, a move Human Rights Watch slammed
as “a craven attempt to derail accountability.” Shortly
afterward, she told journalists she feared for her own life.
“Can I rely on the regular authorities in government? ...
Can I rely on the (police) for my security?” she asked.
Carlo, the police spokesman, dismissed accusations the
drug war was fuelling a climate a fear. But he said Kazuo
had done the right thing by speaking out, because it helps
authorities “go after the policemen involved.”
Kazuo said she is now cut off from friends and family
and does not even dare call them for fear her
conversations could be tracked. On the few occasions she
has met relatives, she’s done so at the offices of the rights
commission, which delivers groceries every week so she
does not have to go out.
“I rarely go outside anymore,” she said. “I stay inside the
house, sometimes I read books, love stories ... I don’t even
want to go outside and walk.”
Kazuo, who has a two-year-old daughter and a
six-year-old son, gave birth to a boy in September. During
a visit for a pre-natal checkup, someone recognized her,
prompting commission officials to switch hospitals.
The commission is now protecting at least seven other
witnesses in similar circumstances, several of which also
have children. Its investigators are combing through 250
cases, many involving allegations that police carried out
extrajudicial killings or other abuses.
They’ve received little cooperation from police, though,
who’ve refused to release records for each death recorded
so far. An investigator on Kazuo’s case said police refused
to release their autopsy report, so the commission
conducted its own.
“It’ll get worse before it gets better,” Gascon said. “While
Duterte is president, I do not believe people will be
charged and held to account ... so what we need to do now
is to prepare the evidence for the time we can have a
proper reckoning.”
Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.
CRANE COMEBACK? Bird keeper Sarawut Wongsombat uses a crane costume to feed an
eight-day-old sarus crane chick at the Korat Zoo hatchling center in Nakhorn Ratchasima, Thailand.
Raising any type of crane to survive in the wild is a delicate matter, in large part because the birds
tend to imprint on humans around them. Wildlife biologists who feed, care for, and transport the
birds from zoo incubators to temporary outdoor habitats wear fake crane suits to stop the birds
from bonding. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
formed by modern man have a place
that’s safe for these enormous birds?”
Thailand’s sarus crane colony
disappeared in the 1960s after farms
took over their habitat, pesticides
wiped out the snakes and crabs they
eat, and hunters killed them for their
bright plumage. To bring them back,
scientists borrowed a few sarus
cranes from neighboring Cambodia,
where a rare flock lives in a refuge.
The United Nations Development
Program helped pull together more
than $1.5 million for sarus cranes and
two other endangered species in
Thailand.
But raising any type of crane to
survive in the wild is a delicate
matter, in large part because the
birds tend to imprint on humans
around them. Wildlife biologists who
feed, care for, and transport the birds
from zoo incubators to temporary
outdoor habitats wear fake crane
suits to stop the birds from bonding.
At the Korat Zoo recently,
birdkeeper Sarawut Wongsombat,
sweating in his white gown, opened
and closed a large sarus crane puppet
mouth in his right hand while waving
a tiny tilapia in front of the beak of an
eight-day-old chick that wobbled on
its skinny legs. The little bird refused
the fish again and again, shaking its
head and hopping away. But when
Sarawut took a break, the curious
chick gobbled a few mealworms it
found in a bowl, followed by some
pink vitamin water.
“He did OK for his first meal,”
said Sarawut, pulling off the
costume.
About 100 miles north, two sarus
cranes were released just one day
earlier, hopping into a wetland from
the arms of their “mom and dad,”
animal scientists Tanat Uttaraviset
and Natawut Wanna, wearing gray-
white gowns with hoods and fabric
flapping wings.
The shaky fledglings, who had
spent the past three months in a
temporary mesh shelter in the
wetland, hopped around and flapped
their wings before launching on their
first flights.
Standing thigh-high in a bog next
to an organic rice paddy, conserva-
tionists watched nervously as the
birds they’d help raise each flapped a
large loop over the field. It’s a dicey
moment when a sarus crane first
flies: Sometimes they crash into
trees. Other times they face plant on
touchdown.
On this day both aced their
landings.
More of these releases are slated
for this month. Organizers plan a
ceremony with the Environmental
Ministry to introduce nine adolescent
sarus cranes into the wild, honoring
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died
October 13 at age 88. The birds are
considered good luck, and better yet,
the number nine honors the king,
who was known as Rama IX for his
place in the nation’s dynasty.
Bhumibol’s legacy includes his
concern for upcountry rice farms,
where he introduced sustainable,
environmentally friendly methods.
“It will be a great way to honor the
king, with these special birds,” said
Nathanik Klaklangsmorn of the U.N.
Development Program.
Japan actor gives his all to play shogi master in Satoshi
Continued from page 2
hexagon-shaped tiles — with that
decisive click against the board,
their fingers placed just so.
The tension of the shogi scenes —
two people facing off, sitting
Japanese-style on the floor, in thick
silence, except for the click-clicks
against the board — is gripping,
even to audiences unfamiliar with
the art.
The intense rivalry that’s also a
respectful
love
story
with
Yoshiharu Habu, still a shogi star
today, drives the film, as dramatic
as that between top-level athletes
— Ted Williams versus Joe
DiMaggio, Martina Navratilova
versus Chris Evert, Bill Russell
versus Wilt Chamberlain.
While Habu gained a reputation
as a cool thinker, Murayama
dazzled with his unpredictable
intuitive moves.
The movie closes with an
unforgettably haunting scene. Soft
wind whirls on a street. A young
shogi player, who had known and
looked up to Murayama, senses
Murayama’s presence in the air,
long after the master’s death.
And then there he is, standing
as he always did, big, smiling,
gazing at what’s ahead, an
everyday street corner that serves
as a profound reminder that such a
legacy, such passion for the game,
is eternal.
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