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108 pages

English

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Edwin Wiek is a true wildlife warrior.A rebel from childhood, this Dutchman is the founder of Asia''s largest multispecies wildlife rescue centre, a fearless interrupter of illicit wildlife trafficking and an advisor to the Thai government on animal law reform.This was not always his life. A serious car accident led him to turn his back on a ''perfect'', easy living in the fashion business in the search for meaning.He has been raided, arrested several times, injured and threatened, but his focus is unwavering.Edwin has been featured liberally on Bondi Vet, Animal Planet and National Geographic and ABC''s Foreign Correspondent.He is rude, rebellious and recalcitrant, but no one has done more in Asia to give so many rescued animals as close to a wild life as possible.No holds are barred in this thorough biography of a remarkable game-changer.

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Publié par	Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
Date de parution	30 octobre 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781528964692
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0175€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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A Wild Life: The Edwin Wiek Story
Jane Fynes-Clinton
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-10-30
A Wild Life: The Edwin Wiek Story About the Author About the Book Acknowledgement Copyright © Jane Fynes-Clinton (2019) Dedication Author’s Note 1. Love Is a Battlefield 2. Wild, Wild Life 3. Against All Odds 4. Hungry like the Wolf 5. I’m Still Standing 6. Just like Starting Over 7. Ain’t Necessarily So 8. Feels like Heaven 9. That’s What Friends Are For 10. Two Tribes 11. Eye of the Tiger 12. Take Me Home 13. Freedom 14. Sign O’ the Times 15. Don’t Dream It’s Over
About the Author

Dr Jane Fynes-Clinton has been a newspaper and magazine journalist for more than 30 years. For 15 of those, she has written a weekly op-ed column for News Corp Australia.
Jane was awarded a PhD for a thesis on political communication and lectures in journalism at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. She is also a regular news and current affairs commentator on radio and TV.
She loves animals, plants and people, a nourishing conversation, a vigorous debate, surfing, running and making a life with her beloved in their home near the ocean.
About the Book
Edwin Wiek is a true wildlife warrior.
A rebel from childhood, this Dutchman is the founder of Asia’s largest multispecies wildlife rescue centre, a fearless interrupter of illicit wildlife trafficking and an advisor to the Thai government on animal law reform.
This was not always his life. A serious car accident led him to turn his back on a 'perfect', easy living in the fashion business in the search for meaning.
He has been raided, arrested several times, injured and threatened, but his focus is unwavering.
Edwin has been featured liberally on Bondi Vet, Animal Planet and National Geographic and ABC’s Foreign Correspondent .
He is rude, rebellious and recalcitrant, but no one has done more in Asia to give so many rescued animals as close to a wild life as possible.
No holds are barred in this thorough biography of a remarkable game-changer.
Acknowledgement
To Edwin, who gave up countless hours of his precious time and laid himself bare in the telling of his extraordinary life story, I thank you for trusting me. Your clarity, ferocity and strength in life are equalled only by your passion for justice and helping animals. The world is a little better because of you.
To those who supported me and offered warm words of love while I was in the tunnel writing. You made the journey less lonely and reminded me I would eventually get there. My particular thanks to Marleen Groot, who was my travel companion at the beginning and end; and to Michele Gilchrist, who threw me a lifeline by lending me her laptop when mine inconveniently carked it.
To the staff and volunteers at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand: my admiration for the meaningful, difficult work you do in very tough conditions. Particular thanks to those who became my friends: Tommy, Aon, Pin, Shawn, Dave and Elliot. I admire who you are and what you do.
Copyright © Jane Fynes-Clinton (2019)
The right of Jane Fynes-Clinton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528926461 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528964692 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Dedication
To those who see the importance, beauty and wonder in living things and who speak up for them.
Author’s Note
While there are many angles on any interesting life, this is largely Edwin’s version of events. Every effort has been made to cross check verifiable facts, and my own observations gleaned during my half-a-dozen trips to Thailand while working on this book are woven in.
Finally, a note on the chapter titles: Edwin is passionate about 1980s and 1990s’ music and film. It seemed only fitting that his life story be punctuated with song titles from that era. They are distinct and enduring – like him.
1. Love Is a Battlefield
Edwin Wiek seems incongruously buoyant today, his short, blond hair neatly combed back and his eyes sharp. Confidence oozes from his stride as he moves towards the Petchaburi Provincial Court building in central Thailand, ready to hear the reading of the appeal decision of the Thailand Supreme Court.
His future is on the line; his work is under judgment. And still, his head is high, and he keeps his gaze steadily on the doors he must pass through. The glass sentinels, the dividing line between his past and future, are standing tall as if to guard the liminal space between what was and what is to come.
This decision is crucial as a finding against him would have smoke-like effects, drifting and reaching and poisoning everything good he has built in the past 17 years. Edwin, Dutch by birth but Thai in life, is a rescuer of wildlife on a grand scale. His Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand operation is arguably the largest multi-species rescue centre in Asia, and his international reputation as a tenacious agitator for national and international wildlife law reform is formidable. His work has been lauded, awarded and mimicked.
And now the animal activist and wildlife saviour stands accused of the very thing he has dedicated his life to fighting against: illegal wildlife possession.
In 2012, the government cast this vigilante as the villain. They also charged his wife and cast his foundation as sinister, illegal animal law violators. The intent, it seems, was to make him hurt, cause his reputation harm and perhaps, ideally, break him and close his Foundation down.
It came down to paperwork and process, systems and sign-offs. The animals in his care were never pets, never vessels to earn money from or trade in the shifty half-light of the black market. But that is the implication of the offences he was charged with.
Since being hauled into battle, Edwin has ridden the legal waves. He was initially found guilty of illegal wildlife possession, but that decision was overturned on his appeal. Then the prosecution challenged that, and their weaving of a tangled web of paperwork meant the process was stretched out, keeping him awake at night and soaking up thought, time and money – lots of money. Edwin spent 1.5 million baht on legal fees for the fight. It has also taken a massive toll on his work, his relationships, and his physical and mental health.
But today, he is a balanced mix of quiet confidence and being ready to face even the worst of what might come.
He leads the way, striding in his sharp black Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand polo shirt and green cargo pants. The courthouse’s metal detector beeps as Edwin’s posse – including the long, angular deputy director of WFFT, Englishman Tommy Taylor – passes into the building, but the security guard does not flinch, much less check bags and bodies. In Thailand, prescribed laws are not always enforced and, on occasion and seemingly at whim, enforcement and legal posturing may rule in spaces where none officially exist. It can feel like an alternative world where the rules shapeshift and authoritarian enforcers evaporate or materialise apparently without reason or rhythm.
Edwin’s physical characteristics mean he would stand out anywhere, but in the Thai court building, he is a tall, pink and white beacon and one of only a few European faces. Despite being the dry season, it is steamy in the corridor of the old, slightly unkempt structure. It is a labyrinth with courtrooms and offices not always being consecutively numbered. There is an extraordinary lack of emotion on display amongst the people in the hallways given the seriousness of the core business here, where great slabs of liberty are taken with a word and lives can be snuffed out with a signature.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 9 am, but as is the way of things in Thailand, the court is already running late and proceedings do not get underway until just before 10 am. On this morning’s list of decisions and sentences are weapons charges, murder, traffic violations and fraud. Edwin’s case is sandwiched after a dangerous driving causing death sentence and before a hearing in a theft case.
The courtroom feels more like a formal office, with stacks of paper on desks at the front. Three rows of pews buffer each side of a centre aisle, a squishy space for defendants and their families to face the music played in Court Room 11. The melody is mostly less gentle symphony and more jarring heavy metal.
Each bench seat would comfortably accommodate four people, but most groan under the weight of five or six, sitting tightly and nervously cheek-to-cheek. Defendants stand where they are, rather than move to a dock to hear their court-determined fate.
Predictably, for one so confident and forthright, Edwin takes a seat in the front row. His lawyer, who has travelled from Chang Mai, wears the standard official attorney’s garb of a black robe with short gold sash on the left shoulder and is nearby. Edwin’s wife, Jansaeng Sanganork – Noi to anyone who knows her – sits in the pew behind Edwin, her brow knitted as she works her fingers anxiously. Noi has borne the extraordinary weight of these proceedings that have dragged for five years. Her demeanour is sharper than before they began; her health has suffered. She wears the strain on her classically beautiful face. The chief of the village near the Foundation’s wildlife rescue centre has come