The stomping boots belong to forest rangers on a counter-poaching tactics course. They are training with Hasadin, a team
of elite rangers formed in June 2015, whose mission is to stop the Siamese rosewood tree from being driven to extinction by
poachers.
“The poachers don’t care if we’re rangers ... if they meet us and they have weapons in their hands, they shoot immediately
without warning,” says Piroon Pilaphop, leader of Hasadin’s Dong Yai wildlife sanctuary team.
Siamese rosewood is a hardwood species confined to the remaining forested areas of just four countries in the Mekong
region – Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Renowned for its blood-red colour, the highly coveted endangered species
is illegally logged in Thailand and smuggled through mainland south-east Asia to luxury “hongmu” furniture markets in China.