By Elisabeth Gish | Grants Manager/Community Conservation Advisor
In the past quarter, in addition to cracking down on the sale of illegal wildlife meat, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team has busted some big traders and rescued numerous animals being kept illegally as pets.
Wild animals are not pets, but too often in Cambodia they are kept illegally in inappropriate conditions by people who are not equipped to provide them with proper care. In mid-November, the Team rescued a young gibbon being kept in Kandal Province. As is too often the case, the owner offered to donate the primate only once it was sick. The Team brought the gibbon to the clinic of Wildlife Alliance’s veterinarian in Phnom Penh for specialized care. A few days later, the Team rescued 2 smooth-coated otters being kept in a small cage with a dirty bathtub in front of a gated community in Phnom Penh. The otters were brought to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre where they will enjoy a large, natural enclosure with pools to swim in. In December, we received a report passed on by the Ministry of Environment that a leopard cat was being raised in Takeo Province’s Bati area. The Team investigated the area and was able to find the small carnivore in a coffee shop. The team rescued the wild cat and brought it to the Centre as well.
Professionals in the illegal trade often keep large numbers of live animals in much worse conditions. In the past quarter, during just three trader busts the Team rescued almost 200 live birds, macaques and squirrels.
In November, following a long investigation to identify and locate an online trader, the Team raided a house in Siem Reap Province. The team found and confiscated 75 live birds: 16 lesser whistling ducks, 7 purple swamphens, 3 white-breasted waterhens and 49 white-vented hill mynas. The trader was fined $1,270.50 USD and the birds were all released in their natural habitat.
In December, the Team collaborated with a local deputy prosecutor and local police to raid a petrol station in Prey Veng Province that had been reported to our Wildlife Crime Hotline-Cambodia Facebook page for raising birds and squirrels. The team confiscated a total of 100 live animals (2 variable and 2 Berdmore’s squirrels, 1 lesser coucal, 2 alexandrine parakeets, 2 Asian koels, 2 changeable hawk eagles, 2 cotton pygmy-gooses, 3 hill mynas, 3 red junglefowl, 4 purple swamphens, 7 watercocks, 17 white-breasted waterhens, 26 lesser whistling and spot-billed ducks, and 27 spotted and peaceful doves). They also seized 3 pairs of mounted red muntjac horns. The owner of the petrol station refused to pay the fine of more than $5000 USD, so the case was sent to court. The live animals were brought to Phnom Tamao for care while the horns were taken to Wildlife Alliance’s office to be kept in the evidence room.
In January, following investigations of an online trader based in Svay Rieng Province, the Team collaborated with local authorities to raid the trader’s house. The Team found 5 live long-tailed macaques and 12 white-vented hill mynas. The trader was fined $3,150 USD and the animals were brought to PTWRC to be cared for before being released.
Your generous donations help fund operations like these that save wild animals’ lives and ensure they receive appropriate care, rehabilitation and are returned to their natural habitat if appropriate. Thank you so much for supporting Cambodian wildlife!
