In the not so distant past, young white handed gibbons (also known as lar gibbons) were captured and kept in captivity to pose for tourists taking photos. Once these cute youngsters matured, they became less docile and were abandoned.

Laguna Resorts and Hotels, a Banyan Tree-affiliated organization, is proud to have supported the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, which helped to retrieve captive gibbons and retrain them to live in the wild again. One of the aspects of this initiative focused on educating Phuket residents on this endangered ape.