In 1993, Tilo Nadler, an ageing German welder turned air-conditioning engineer, photographer, filmmaker and self-made biologist arrived in Vietnam for training foresters in Cuc Phuong National Park to secure the Park from poachers, hunters and vandals. Within two months, he was tasked with the care of two confiscated subadult male Delacour’s langurs, a rare, endemic and critically endangered primate species. This book narrates Tilo's story to start up a world-class rehabilitation centre for endangered primates against all odds in Vietnam.
This book celebrates two possibilities. First, endangered primates are given a new lease of life at Endangered Primates Rescue Centre (EPRC) after their rescue from sordid conditions and joined-up with other survivors in captivity before their final release into appropriate habitat to establish troops. Second, the raising of troops or foot soldiers groomed by Tilo in the art and science of primate rehabilitation. Tilo’s abiding passion is to make both his troops gain a foothold in Vietnam.
Murali Pai is an equine veterinarian, conservation biologist, environmental writer and editor of African Conservation Telegraph (ACT) – an e-newsletter of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), Africa Section. His conservation work traversed India, the U.S., China, Ethiopia, and Bhutan before he met Tilo Nadler at the EPRC in Cuc Phuong, Vietnam, to write his first book. The author lives in Mangalore, India.