Specialist Equipment Grant – EAST

The Endangered Asian Species Trust (EAST) is a UK charity, established by Monkey World – Ape Rescue Centre (UK) and the Pingtung Rescue Centre (Taiwan) to help conserve Asia’s endangered wildlife.

“The mission of Dao Tien is to work with the Vietnamese Government to uphold National and International Law with the protection of Critically Endangered, and Endangered primates of South Vietnam. Supporting confiscations by providing a rescue facility on Dao Tien. The centre provides an International Standard of care for Vietnam and works hard to develop reintroduction protocols for primates fit for release. I am very proud to announce that our centre is now managed by Nguyen Thi Phuong, who has worked and trained alongside our international team since 2011. We continue to support Phoung daily and provide extra specialist technical support to further increase our Vietnamese Capacity.

This last year has been an important year to restore working practice onsite on Dao Tien and re-establish relationships with our specialist support partners, in particular International and Vietnamese wildlife veterinarians. All in preparation for releases in 2024.

In February 2024 three specialist veterinarians visited from Taiwan. Dr Savvy carried out our pre-release health checks on Peter, a Black-shanked douc (Pygathrix nigripes). Dr Savvy not only carried out the standard health checks and disease screening, but he was also responsible for carrying out the final measurements required of Peter’s neck circumference so that we could ensure that his GPS tracking collar would be a good fit and comfortable. This also provided an excellent opportunity for our new onsite Vietnamese veterinarian Dr Hoang to assist.

The veterinary treatment continued with root canal treatment successfully carried out on Hiep a Golden-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus gabriellae). Under the guidance of specialist dental veterinarian Dr Izzy, this also provided us with the opportunity to test out a mobile x-ray camera, something that we hope to purchase with funding received from the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund. Assessing if this equipment would be suitable for our needs on Dao Tien and most importantly can be maintained with the challenging environmental conditions on Dao Tien was vital.

Once the new Dao Tien veterinary room is realised, Dr Savvy will source the other veterinary equipment required as a result of funding from the charity. Equipment for our new intensive care house for infant douc and Silvered langur (Trachypithecus cristatus) (refrigerator, fans, heater etc.) will be purchased on completion of the house and the kitchen.

We have also been able to purchase Lotek GPS collars with the funding provided by the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund and although their manufacture had been delayed due to unprecedented demand, they will be ready for deployment in June. With the first phase of douc releases planned for mid-June 2024, we are excited to be on track and are very grateful to the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund for the funding provided.”