Thai gibbon sanctuary survives killings of staff
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2004:
Phop Phra, Tak, Thailand– The William E. Deters Foundation
For Gibbon and Wildlife Conservation Projects, founded in 1996 as
the Highland Farm & Gibbon Sanctuary, is recovering from perhaps the
most violent transition of leadership any sanctuary has ever endured.
On May 10, 2002, cofounder William Emeral Deters, 69,
housekeeper Ratchanee Sonkhamleu, 26, her three-year-old daughter,
Hmong worker Laeng sae Yang, and a Thai worker known only as Subin
were massacred during a botched robbery. Of the key personnel, only
cofounder Pharanee Deters, 60, remained.
But the animals still needed to be fed.
“My mind was in a dark hole for a long time,” Pharanee
Deters told ANIMAL PEOPLE in a recent update e-mail. “Very sad,
upset, suffering, depressed, angry–you name it, I had it all. I
even thought about eliminating myself. But every day I would think,
“If I am gone, who will take care of the 37 gibbons, six monkeys,
the birds, the dogs, the cats, the geese, the turkeys. So here I
am, still alive and working harder to keep these creatures alive and
happy.
“When Bill was alive, he was the creator and I was the doer.
Now I have to do both,” Pharanee Deters continued, with words of
appreciation for Edwin Wick, director of Wildlife Friends of
Thailand, and Roger Lohanan, director of the Thai Animal Guardians
Association. Wick and three volunteers helped maintain the sanctuary
for about two months after the murders. Lohanan and eight volunteers
helped for two weeks after Wick’s team left.