Last week, Kenya confirmed sending 175 wild animals and birds to the Asian nation when Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited here, a move that infuriated wildlife welfare activists and conservationists.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, Thai deputy natural resources and environment minister, said Thursday that rare exotic meat as well as local delicacies like grasshoppers and insect eggs would be on the menu at the Mae Hia Safari Park in northern Chiang Mai province.

"This is a new development," Connie Maina, the spokeswoman for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) told AFP.

"We need to verify the truth about this buffet. If it's true the government needs to re-think about sending animals to Thailand," Maina added.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which led opposition to exports of Kenyan wildlife, said it was appalled.

"IFAW is appalled at this idea of opening such a restaurant at Chiang Mai. It is like rubbing salt into the very wound that was put on Kenyans when the export deal was sealed," said Elizabeth Wamba, the spokeswoman for IFAW here.

"Thailand's animal welfare record is very dismal to say the least and that is why IFAW became concerned when the technical team from Kenya Wildlife Service gave Chiang Mai a clean bill of health.

"Is there any guarantee that the wildlife from Kenya will not end up on dinner plates now that other African wildlife seems to be destined for that?"

Amid mounting pressure from activists, who have suggested a boycott of Thai products, Maina said KWS would ask the government to dispatch a second team of experts to the Thai zoos the check the situation and advise Nairobi.

This was reinforced by IFAW. "First, Kenyans' views were not sought on a matter as serious as wildlife, which is our national heritage. Now if they get to know that there is a chance in future that this wildlife may end up as part of an exotic meat menu in the same zoo, then what kind of reaction would one expect?" Wamba said.

Thai activists were also exasperated by the move, saying it left a bad taste in the mouths of conservationists who argue that it gives the impression that Thailand condones the trade in and consumption of endangered wildlife.

"The idea will set the country's image back a century, because nowadays zoos around the world aim to educate and conserve," Wildlife Fund Thailand secretary Surapol Duangkae was quoted as saying by The Nation newspaper in Bangkok.

The zoo, in Thaksin's home region, will open on New Year's Day and will feature five restaurants, according to Thai officials.

Kenyan officials said none of the animals to be sent to Chiang Mai was an endangered species. These animals include zebras, flamingos, African buffaloes, hippos, spotted hyenas, silver-back jackals and impalas.

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