The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) was set up in 1992 by
 Mr Noppadol Preuksawan, the chief of Phuket Royal Forest Department,
Mr Manit Phuangchit, the chief of Khao Phra Thaew Non-hunting Area,
Mr Thavorn Sri-Oon, the chief of Bang Pae Sub-station,
Mr Terrance Dillon Morin, an American zoologist
and Asian Wildlife Fund
 Together they collectively set up a Gibbon Recovery Centre, and named it the "Gibbon Rehabilitation Project". The Centre's activities, at the time, were driven mainly by Mr Terrance Dillon Morin, with a vital veterinary service provided by Chief Municipal Veterinary Surgeon of Phuket City Municipality, Dr Boonchit Sri-Aram.
Mr Noppadol Preuksawan
One of the penalties in the Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act B.E. 2535 (1992) states "...whoever possesses reserved wild animals, protected wild animals... shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding four years or fined not exceeding forty thousand baht, or both ..." As soon as the Act came into force, the Royal Forest Department was in a position to take on the burden of an abundance of wild animals. Some of them were received as a result of the legal enforcement. Some were voluntarily given due to the fear of the penalties. 
Mr Terrance Dillon Morin
and Mr Thavorn Sri-Oon
fitting the radio-tracking
device to first reintroduced gibbon.
At the time the law was enacted, there were many gibbons in human possession around Phuket. Some were owned as pets. Some were tourist attractions for entertaining customers in bars, restaurants, beach hotels, etc. Since there was no existing organisation capable of looking after these gibbons, they were sent to the project. In 1995, the Project confronted a problem as a consequence of Mr Morin's untimely death and the reallocation of the Royal Forest Department officers who were the Project founders. There was not only the problem of personnel inadequacy but also the ever increasing number of gibbons under the Centre's care. The Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WARF) therefore began supporting the Project's activities. Their support continues to this day, and the GRP is now a research division of WARF.
The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project's goal is to rehabilitate White-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) which have been poached and kept in captivity illegally, and to repopulate the forest in which these animals once lived. The GRP is studying these released gibbons and producing new information about rehabilitated gibbons. These data will help both GRP and other organizations to rehabilitate these primates in the future. Most importantly, we are running an education program to try to stop the poaching and to make tourists aware of the problems, with the hope they will not continue to support this trade. In this way we are trying to help conserve Thailand's gibbon population.
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| "Joe enjoying the ripe fruits
of Baccaurea parviflora." (M00O4 @Suwit Punnadee) |
Since October 2002, 23 gibbons have been released in KPT forest, with a further 6 born in the forest. Of these, 3 have disappeared, 5 have had to be re-captured, and 3 are known to have died, thus leaving a total of 18 gibbons (4 family groups) successfully re-introduced. Compared with other gibbon reintroduction projects over the world, the GRP's work has been successful to date. Anyone can come to see them in the forest.
For a gibbon reintroduction program, success should be measured by (1) foraging success (2) survival post-release (3) sociobiology, including intragroup and intergroup social interactions (4) fertility and survival of the offspring. The GRP gibbons have succeeded in all of the above criteria. However, long-term monitoring will determine if this success will contribute to population growth and establish a self-sustaining population.
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Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand
