A recent incident in which a black bear, left in the custody of a temple by the wildlife officials, attacked and injured a villager in Phetchabun has forced the concerned authorities to review their current practices.
Thanya Nethithammakul, chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said his department is now reviewing its policy and there exists a possibility that all illegal wildlife animals will be brought under the department's supervision.
This would be a break away from current practice of leaving confiscated animals in the custody of their previous owners.
"We are ready. We have enough capacity to take care of these illegal wildlife animals," Mr Thanya said.
He said the department's wildlife breeding centres have a clear job description to research and study wildlife, including their nutrition requirements and health so there is no need to leave those confiscated animal with their owners.
Under the department's regulations, it is allowed to leave the seized wildlife animals at the place where they had been living with the department officials following up with regular visits to ensure that they are alive and in good health. This is done to save budget for use on animals in department's 24 wildlife breeding centres countrywide.
In a classic case at Wat Luang Ta Maha Bua in Kanchanaburi province, where officials had left some confiscated tigers to be taken care of by the temple along with a large number their offspring, a conflict surfaced between the temple and officials.
The department wanted to move all the tigers to its wildlife breeding centre in Ratchaburi province but the monks objected. The operation was successful, but it cost the department a sizeable chunk of its budget to move the tigers and take care of them, Mr Thanya said.
In the black bear case, he said the department left the animal in the temple's custody on the condition that it does not attack any visitor. However, a male villager sustained serious injuries after being attacked by the bear and has been admitted to hospital since, forcing forest officials to take the moody bear to the Khao Kho Wildlife Breeding Centre in Phetchabun.
He said the department is not able to give the number of confiscated bears now living outside the wildlife breeding centres run by the department.
Suthee Loima, chief of the Khao Kho Wildlife Breeding Centre, said the black bear is in very good health and adjusting itself to its temporary shelter.
"The space here is very limited. We don't have the capacity to take care of it, so we will move it out to a new place as soon as we can find one," Mr Suthee said.
The department receives around 10 million baht per year to take care of such animals, which include more than 100 tigers, around 400 primates and others, in the wildlife breeding centre. It takes about 8,000 baht per month to feed a tiger, 1,200 baht per month for a bear and more for deer, birds, turtles, and other animals, he said.
To raise more money to support these wildlife animals, the department has launched the Wildlife Patronage Project. However, there have been less than 100 donors per year and the amount of donation has bee quiet small, amounting to around 100,000 baht per year, he said.
Meanwhile, social media has been abuzz with differing views, with some saying that the department should not have moved the black bear out of the temple as it has been there since the age of one month.
"I have visited Nong Kaew many times and it is a really nice black bear. I even saw a monk give it a bath and brush its hair. It is not the bear's fault -- the man should not have got too close. Please take it back home," said an online user. Others however have sided with the department.