Help Bring Wildlife Back to Angkor Forest

Things are going well for the released animals now living in the forests of the Angkor Archeological Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia that your donations support, and we have not had any serious concerns during the past quarter. Despite the current heavy rains, all seem to be coping well in their transfer to a walk on the wild side.

Obviously wet weather does not bother our three otters, who still return most days to eat the fish we continue to provide. They seem to be staying closer to their release enclosure, perhaps realizing the dangers that fishermen’s nets and fish traps pose to unwary otters. We have written to APSARA, the Government authority that manages this UNESCO World Heritage Site, about this matter, requesting intervention to help keep our animals safe. For now the supplemental food we provide remains essential – and camera trap photos in June showed them waiting in their enclosure for the fish to arrive one day when keeper Sarin was later than usual!

The wild silvered langurs that we rescued at the Government’s request from an island off the coast of Sihanoukville that was being developed and released into Angkor in 2018 have split into 2 troupes. Keen observers can sometimes see them high in the forest canopy. Langur numbers are increasing as indicated by the bright orange infants, a stark contrast to the grey and black colouring of their parents.

Other animals we have released, such as red muntjac and small carnivores like leopard cats and civets are very seldom seen, but their footprints indicate they are surviving. The birds, green peafowl and three species of hornbills we released last year, are mobile with hornbills now seen entering the outskirts of the city of Siem Reap. Only one green peafowl still returns regularly to eat the food we provide.

The four pairs of pileated gibbons we have released and their offspring – now 7 wild-born infants in total – are also fine. The youngest of the wild-born babies, Mey-ambaugh (Butterfly in Khmer), is now about a year old and big enough to leave her mother for periods of time. Recently, we had a small scare concerning Bakheng, the partner of Ping-peeung who was the first gibbon to be born in Angkor and has now grown into an 8-year old adult. It has been raining constantly and our keepers who monitor and offer food to our animals post-release did not see Bakheng for a day and a half. Thankfully our concerns proved to be unfounded and he reappeared. Perhaps he was just sheltering from the rain.

There is a long road ahead in our project to restore some of Cambodia’s beautiful natural heritage into her primary site of cultural heritage and many things can go wrong, but with all going smoothly right now we will simply say “so far so good”.

Your donations make it possible for us to continue providing long-term supplemental food and monitoring, which is so important to ensure our releases lead to successful reintroductions, particularly for species such as gibbons and otters, and eventually will lead to sustainable wildlife populations in Angkor. Thank you so much for your support.