FREDA is an extraordinary NGO staffed by 8 volunteers, most of them elderly men who formerly worked as park rangers in Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park during the 1970's. FREDA was able to attract several younger members with a small start-up budget they secured from a Japanese NGO called the Japan Wildlife Research Center. FREDA receives no financial support from the government and is respected by both the country's leadership and their opposition.
Through FREDA, The Tiger Foundation was given a first opportunity to geographically diversify its wild tiger conservation activities. Shen Than Yay was the first step beyond its maiden Sumatran tiger programs.

Shen Than Yay (Burmese for "Surviving Together") is a grass roots program based in Myanmar's largest terrestrial wildlife reserve, Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park. AK Park is a lush 1,000 square kilometer forest in Sagaing Division, not far from the borders of India and Bangladesh. This tropical forest was received National Park designation in 1985 with the help of the United Nations FAO. Due to political unrest, it was all but abandoned in 1990. In the early stages of this project, GSN interviewed local villagers, forest guards and monks who confirmed that, incredibly, part of the staff of AK Park had remained behind to defend it against poaching gangs. Thanks to their efforts, there are still Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, Himalayan bears, Malayan sun bears, clouded leopards, civets, and a wide array of other species.

AK Park is also home to a famous Buddhist shrine and a small group of monks. As legend goes, about 2,400 years ago, the Past Buddha, Alaungdaw Kathapa, traveled from India and settled in this forest, where he lived, died and was eventually buried. Since his death, villagers from Myanmar's countryside have visited his burial site and shrine. Today, thousands of Myanmar people make an annual pilgrimage to AK Park where they take meditation from the monks who live year round next to the shrine of Alaungdaw Kathapa.

These monks have agreed to join forces with Shen Than Yay to educate the tens ofthousands of pilgrims that visit AK Park about wildlife conservation, reminding them of the basic Buddhist precept that professes "Do to kill", and by distributing materials about the spiritual synergy between wildlife and people. The message is that "we can all survive together": Shen Than Yay.