Help Rangers Protect Endangered Cambodian Wildlife

During the last quarter of 2022, our rangers in the Cardamom Rainforest who your donations support rescued 156 live wild animals from poachers! In addition to patrolling the forest, the rangers set up checkpoints along roads that loggers and hunters use to smuggle illegal wildlife and wood out of protected areas. These checkpoints and nighttime ambushes of transporters along the roads saved many wild lives in October, November and December.

In mid-October the Stung Praot Patrol Unit conducted nighttime inspections by setting up a checkpoint along the boundary of the Southern Cardamom National Park. The rangers noticed that a motorbike quickly turned back in the direction it had come from instead of approaching. They pursued the bike and found a bag that had been tossed along the road with 1 slow loris and 1 turtle inside. The animals were brought to our Wildlife Release Station (WRS) the next day.

About a week later, while conducting a routine patrol, the same unit saw from a distance that a man had dropped his motorbike and run away. The rangers approached the bike and found 1 macaque, 1 wild chicken, 79 snares and 1 speaker for playing sounds to attract birds into traps. The monkey was brought to WRS and the chicken was released back into natural habitat. That same day, the Veal Pi Patrol Unit set up a night ambush on a main road and caught two motorbike riders with 1 dead macaque and 3 live long-tailed macaques that were released the next day.

A few weeks later, rangers on duty at Veal Pi Station called the Trapeang Rung Station to let them know that a suspected wildlife transporter riding a motorbike had passed by without stopping at the post for inspection by the rangers. The Trapeang Rung rangers quickly rode to National Road 48 to catch the suspect. The transporter was nowhere to be found, but had abandoned 4 live monkeys in bags on the side of the road. The monkeys were healthy and were released the same day.

In November and December, a total of 5 live Sunda pangolins were rescued! Sunda pangolin is a Critically Endangered species and it is unusual for our teams to encounter so many in such a short period of time. One female pangolin had a serious injury on her leg and was taken to Phnom Penh for veterinary care before being transferred to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. Another two pangolins were saved after a moto driver refused to stop for inspection. When the rangers pursued him on their bikes, he threw a bag at them that had two live pangolins inside. Since they were both in good condition, they were released into protected habitat. The Trapeang Run Patrol Unit conducted a nighttime ambush along National Road 48 after being tipped-off about a man transporting a pangolin. They found the suspect and chased him down. The pangolin was still alive and healthy so they released it. A few days later, an informant notified the unit that another motorcycle would be trafficking wildlife along the same road. Another nighttime ambush was conducted and the rangers rescued one more pangolin, this time a healthy male who was released the next day after being given water and ants.

In addition to saving animals during patrols and ambushes, our rangers are also sometimes contacted by local people who find wildlife and want to make sure it will be safe. In late November, a villager from Chi Phat called the Stung Praot Patrol leader to donate a baby Sambar deer. After a health check the fawn was brought to WRS for further care by the animal keepers there.

Your donations help make it possible for our rangers to keep up this vital work day and night to save wildlife. Thank you so much for your support!

2022 has been quite a year for Wildlife Alliance/Cambodian Ministry of Environment rangers whose patrols to protect the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape are supported by your generous donations. In the first 9 months of 2022, our rangers already removed more wildlife snares than during all of last year – indicating that Southeast Asia’s snaring crisis is worsening. This report highlights a recent case where our rangers caught a Phnom Penh police official poaching wildlife inside a protected area and summarizes overall patrol results achieved thus far this year.

In early September, the Stung Proat and Sre Ambel patrol units caught and detained two hunters in the middle of the night. The pair had been hunting wildlife and illegally using weapons inside the Southern Cardamom National Park, and were caught red-handed with several dead animals, including 1 pregnant sambar deer (IUCN Red-Listed Vulnerable species), 1 civet and 3 kilos of bush meat. In addition, they had 3 pistols and 2 rifles with scopes and targeting lasers, and were driving a pick-up truck with Royal Cambodian Armed Forces license plates. During the investigation, it became apparent that the men were Phnom Penh police officers and one of them held the rank of 1^st Lieutenant!

Our Cardamom Forest Protection Program team filed a case with the Koh Kong Courts requesting maximum legal penalties be applied to this pair of State Officers who were using State resources to destroy protected, state-owned natural resources. Provisional detention warrants were issued for both of the men, and they were handed over to Kong Kong Prison officers. We hope this case serves as a deterrent for other officials who may think they are above the law!

While this case is just one example, our rangers are busy day and night and they accomplish a lot. From January-September 2022, our rangers:

• Conducted 4,842 patrols within Cardamom protected areas.
• Removed 33,373 wildlife snares and 7,328 meters of net traps.
• Saved 260 live animals from poachers and illegal hunters.
• Removed 582 illegal logging and hunting camps/ huts.
• Stopped 152 cases of land encroachment.
• Confiscated 1,121 chainsaws, 132 mechanical buffalos used for hauling timber and 19 excavators/ bulldozers/ tractors from illegal logging sites.
• Submitted 124 court cases against offenders.

Support from donors like you is vital to paying salary supplements for the Ministry of Environment rangers on our teams, who make it possible for us to operate patrol stations and ensure the Cardamom’s vital habitat is protected. Thank you so much for helping us make this landscape safer for wildlife!

If you are planning to make any year-end gifts, please mark your calendars for November 29^th when you can help us earn a portion of GlobalGiving’s $1.2 MILLION USD Incentive Fund. All unique donations of up to $2,500 made November 29, 2022 from 12:01AM-11:59PM Eastern Time will be matched! To meet the match requirements each donation must be:

1)     Made via GlobalGiving’s website during the campaign period.

2)     Made by a unique individual with a distinct name, email, and payment account (only 1 donation per person will be matched, even if you give to multiple projects).

3)     Donations must be made by the account or card holder.

4)     Acceptable payment methods include: credit or debit card, Paypal, individually purchased GlobalGiving gift cards (corporate gift cards are ineligible), and M-Changa/M-Pesa.

The more we raise, the more matching funds we’ll receive!

We know times are tight and appreciate all that you do already. If you cannot afford to donate right now, please consider sharing this report with friends or family to spread the word about our work and this Giving Tuesday opportunity. Best wishes for a wonderful giving season.