Pro Bono Services
HOW GREG TARONE HELPED THE KAKAO TROOP IN CAMBODIA
Licensing the Kako Troop of Macaque Monkeys for the Saraan Family in the Ro Neam forest of Battambang Province, Cambodia.
Above left to right: Kako, Olly, Luna, wearing the jerseys sent to them by Greg Tarone before undertaking his pro bono services and GoFundMe campaign.
When New York attorney Greg Tarone found the Facebook page of Rorn and Raska Sarann in Cambodia a couple of years ago, it intrigued him because he had raised and cared for many different animals, but found Kako and his troop irresistibly fascinating. So, he sent some private messages to the Saranns and promised to send them some t-shirts for their monkeys if they provided an address, and they did so. After a couple of months after mailing them four Georgetown University jerseys, and sent an email confirming their mailing address and telling them they should receive his gift soon.
Then, Rorn sent an text to Greg that a terrible thing happened. Their monkeys Lisa, JiJi, and Jing were confiscated by the Wildlife Alliance on the road to visiting family in a nearby village. Wildlife Alliance is a non-for-profit conservation corporation based in New York City, operating under an apparent but still unseen and unverified Cambodian Government enforcement agreement. They confiscated the three monkeys in public to allegedly prevent harm to the macaque monkeys from being raised privately because they are an “endangered species,” and without proper Cambodian Government licenses you cannot raise them. Rorn Sarann did not understand the law’s requirements.
When he got the news, Greg offered to help the Saranns pro bono, because they did not posses sufficient money to be able to retain and pay all the necessary legal fees to try to retrieve Lisa, JiJi, and Jing, nor to set about obtaining licenses for Kako, Luna, and Olly, who were at home and undiscovered at that point.
After some extensive research, Greg found Asia Cambodia Legal Group (“ACLG” https://www.aclf.com.kh/) in Phnom Penh that had a branch office in Siem Reap, not far from the Saranns’ home. After asking Rorn Sarann for permission and offering to help his family pro bono, Rorn authorized Greg to talk with Mr. Pin Pun, the Siem Reap Branch Attorney Supervisor, along with his associate in the Phnom Penh ACLG Head Office, Khlourk Saman.
Because the Sarann family did not have sufficient money to retain and pay all the necessary legal fees of ACLG, Greg established a Go Fund Me “Kako Family Legal Fund” campaign online that, with the kind support of friends from all over the world, provided donations totaling $3,530.00 and, after Go Fund Me fees of $121.46, netted $3,381.66 toward the $2,500 total paid for both the legal licenses for Kako, Luna, and Olly, and for ACLG’s legal fees. The Saranns were ecstatic.
Kako is a hybrid monkey, and an amazing leader. He was part of a wildlife hunter’s family in the Ro Neam Forest in the Battambang Province of Cambodia when Rorn adopted him. When asked why he chose the name “Kako,” Rorn said, “It is the name of my lovely dog that lived with me about 10 years ago, and when he passed away, it was the first time I cried since a long time, so I decided to name this baby monkey Kako in his honor.” How he came to pick Kako from the macaque monkeys needing a home that hunters came across and knew were endangered as species, Rorn said, “When my family visited him, I instantly saw something special in him and knew that he needed to be loved and taken care for. He is clever, lovely, cute, adorable and very funny. Therefore, I asked to adopt him from the hunter and he agreed.”
Read About the Wildlife Alliance and the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre on Wikipedia.