Since returning to Thailand on the 21st of September I have been busy analyzing data collected as part of the carnivore monitoring project I am involved with at Khao Yai National Park. I plan to spend two weeks at the Smithsonian’s Conservation and Research Center in December to work with Dr. Peter Leimgruber and to draft a journal publication related to this project.
I have also entered the data from 87 villager surveys around Khao Yai National Park. Last Friday I was granted permission to conduct interviews outside of Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary. I will pickup the documents for permits this week and expect to start those interviews around November 12th.
I am still waiting for permits to research dholes in Khao Ang Rue Nai. My collaborator from the Smithsonian, Dr. Nucharin Songsasen, is in Thailand this month and we are dealing with the requested changes to the original permit proposal.
Dr. Songsasen and I attended a canid workshop on 25th-27th of October. This was setup in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and Kasetsart University in Thailand. I presented canid data from three years of camera trapping at Khao Yai. I think it was an extremely productive meeting which brought together interested parties in canid research throughout the country. One output was a step by step plan (including programs, activities, and actors) for developing canid research in Thailand.
The workshop benefited my work because it was good exposure to make key players aware of our planned dhole research at Khao Ang Rue Nai. We also made progress with our relationship with Kasetsart Univ. students and plan future research collaborations with them. The activities in the next few years will be on ecology and education, particularly outreach aiming at changing perceptions of visitors and rangers toward dholes.Upcoming at the beginning of November, I will be transitioning my work out of Khao Yai to focus on Khao Ang Rue Nai.
We're Moving
My main site for the radio-telemetry of dholes will be moved from Khao Yai National Park (KYNP) to Khao Ang Rue Nai (KARN) due to a more supportive environment in KARN. I expect permits by the end of September for KARN. I am still proceeding with the permit process for a carnivore monitoring project at KYNP that could include dhole research as a backup site.
I met with a Thai graduate student who showed me data collected by the Thailand Department of National Parks. This consisted of sign surveys throughout the country for large mammals and included a country-wide distribution map for dholes. Therefore, I will no longer be targeting my interview surveys country-wide. Instead, I will focus on an intensive comparison between KYNP and KARN. This should prove interesting because KARN has a more recent history of intensive logging and village residence within the sanctuary.
I received (as co-investigator) funding for $25,000 through the Association for Zoos and Aquariums. I have recently submitted a grant proposal to WCS and am preparing one for Fulbright.
Upcoming at the end of October, I will be organizing a one day dhole workshop in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and Kasetsart University in Thailand.
I am on my way back to Thailand on the 21st of September and plan to be there for at least a year.
I met with a Thai graduate student who showed me data collected by the Thailand Department of National Parks. This consisted of sign surveys throughout the country for large mammals and included a country-wide distribution map for dholes. Therefore, I will no longer be targeting my interview surveys country-wide. Instead, I will focus on an intensive comparison between KYNP and KARN. This should prove interesting because KARN has a more recent history of intensive logging and village residence within the sanctuary.
I received (as co-investigator) funding for $25,000 through the Association for Zoos and Aquariums. I have recently submitted a grant proposal to WCS and am preparing one for Fulbright.
Upcoming at the end of October, I will be organizing a one day dhole workshop in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and Kasetsart University in Thailand.
I am on my way back to Thailand on the 21st of September and plan to be there for at least a year.
Waiting to SEE
I decided to Just DO IT a week after I had the initial 3 hour check over. Today I underwent laser eye surgery to finally rid me of glasses. I had the older version of Lasik—PRK—where they use chemicals to remove the top epithelial layer of cornea cells (versus the true Lasik where a flap is cut and the laser is applied under that layer). I didn’t have a choice of procedures after they discovered that I have a thin cornea. I felt calm, but a little nervous, as this is my only set of eyes after all. I elected to do both eyes on the same day because then they can adjust together. The prep. was well organized, multiple numbing eye drops and my eyes would jerk in response to the drops falling. They checked that and gave me increasing dosages until it stopped. Yes, we do want to be sure my eye is fully fully numb! I admit I was more worried about pain due to improperly numbed eyes than I was worried about going blind (that seemed too slim of a chance).
They cleaned my face with anti-bacterial wash and spread over a “saran-wrap” shield with eye holes poked out. Ready to remove cell layers. This could have been better explained to me before hand. More eye drops were applied and the result was slowly blurring vision and suddenly a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. It was as if my brain was watching the cells die and then finally the neurons couldn’t register any longer. Cell death. It was a feeling of both simultaneous awe and horror. On the second eye, my left, I was concentrating so hard on the red light of the laser (like they instruct you to do so you don’t move), that all I could think, repeating in increasingly warning of danger message scrolling in my mind: “I’m being vaporized, my eye is being vaporized, the cells are being vaporized!” I could feel moisture evaporating from my face and a slight smell of burning flesh. I involuntarily jerked my head. The laser shut off and the procedure had to start again. Ok, so now I was freaking that they zapped the wrong section of my eye – that it got off-centered or something. Yet, my surgeon assured me the procedure went great. I went home with double eye patches and crashed from the stress of it all.
Update (2 September 2007): The protective contacts that are inserted after the surgery were removed after 4 days. I could not adequately read my computer to do office work until 2 weeks after surgery and it was quite unnerving waiting for both eyes to come into focus and stabilize. But, a month after the surgery, I am seeing with what feels to be 98% clarity and my eyes “feel” normal as I look around and focus at varying distances. I have another doctor’s appointment at the end of September and of course I’ll feel better when I am confirmed 20/20 on the eye chart…
Update (December 2008): I'm not quite seeing 20/20, but it is darn near close. I have no problems with my eyes, other than slight dry-eye (and not consistent enough to be an issue). It is quite easy to take for granted the ability to see clearly with no glasses.
They cleaned my face with anti-bacterial wash and spread over a “saran-wrap” shield with eye holes poked out. Ready to remove cell layers. This could have been better explained to me before hand. More eye drops were applied and the result was slowly blurring vision and suddenly a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. It was as if my brain was watching the cells die and then finally the neurons couldn’t register any longer. Cell death. It was a feeling of both simultaneous awe and horror. On the second eye, my left, I was concentrating so hard on the red light of the laser (like they instruct you to do so you don’t move), that all I could think, repeating in increasingly warning of danger message scrolling in my mind: “I’m being vaporized, my eye is being vaporized, the cells are being vaporized!” I could feel moisture evaporating from my face and a slight smell of burning flesh. I involuntarily jerked my head. The laser shut off and the procedure had to start again. Ok, so now I was freaking that they zapped the wrong section of my eye – that it got off-centered or something. Yet, my surgeon assured me the procedure went great. I went home with double eye patches and crashed from the stress of it all.
Update (2 September 2007): The protective contacts that are inserted after the surgery were removed after 4 days. I could not adequately read my computer to do office work until 2 weeks after surgery and it was quite unnerving waiting for both eyes to come into focus and stabilize. But, a month after the surgery, I am seeing with what feels to be 98% clarity and my eyes “feel” normal as I look around and focus at varying distances. I have another doctor’s appointment at the end of September and of course I’ll feel better when I am confirmed 20/20 on the eye chart…
Update (December 2008): I'm not quite seeing 20/20, but it is darn near close. I have no problems with my eyes, other than slight dry-eye (and not consistent enough to be an issue). It is quite easy to take for granted the ability to see clearly with no glasses.