Help Rangers Protect Endangered Cambodian Wildlife

Already 2022 has been a busy year for our rangers protecting wildlife in the Cardamoms. With the generous support of donors like you, between just January and April, rangers from 14 stations spread across the landscape patrolled almost 79,000 kilometers, removed more than 14,700 deadly snares from the forest, and rescued 147 live animals.

As with the sun bear rescue described in our previous report, some of the animals saved were removed directly from snares and would surely have died ensnared had our patrol teams not discovered them in time. Safely releasing frightened wild animals that are caught in hunting snares requires special tactics and patience to prevent injury. In mid-January, while conducting a long patrol, the Chhay Areng Patrol Unit found three common palm civets trapped in snares. The team spent 60 minutes carefully removing the civets from the snares. When the team searched the surrounding area, they found and removed a total of 520 snares. In March, during a long patrol the Trapeang Rung Patrol Unit found two wild boars in hunting snares. They were able to free the boars in 30 minutes. The team found a total of 68 snares in the surrounding area.

Net and bird traps also pose a threat to wildlife and the rangers removed over 2,000 meters of net traps during this period. During daily routine patrols the Koh Paor Patrol Unit rescued two turtles, a snake and a water dragon from net traps in February, and in April they rescued another two turtles from net traps. The wild animals were freed on site and the traps impounded. In March, the Chambak Patrol Unit confiscated 12 bird traps, rescued 8 unidentified wild birds and released them.

In addition to rescuing animals from unchecked snares and traps, rangers sometimes save animals already in the hands of hunters. In early March, the Stung Praot Patrol Unit was conducting a routine daily patrol inside a sugarcane area when they stopped a suspect riding a motorbike. Concealed underneath his jacket, the team found 12 unidentified wild birds that he had tied around his body to avoid being seen! The offender was arrested, brought to the Station, and paid a transactional fine of 1 million riel ($250 USD) in order to get back his motorbike. The birds were released the same day behind the Station. At the end of April, while patrolling along National Road 48, the Trapeang Rung Patrol Unit noticed a net bag abandoned on the road. The team checked and found a live Slow loris in the bag. Slow loris is an IUCN Red-Listed nocturnal primate. The animal was released back into natural habitat that same night.

Thank you so much for supporting our rangers’ work to protect Cambodian wildlife.

As always, our rangers have been hard at work patrolling the forests of the Cardamoms to keep wildlife safe during the past quarter. The most exciting outcome of these recent patrols was saving the life of a sun bear that had been caught in a snare!

Rangers from the Thmor Rung Patrol Unit were on a long patrol in the Southern Cardamom National Park on January 8, 2022 when villagers from Prey Prasith Village in Preah Sihanouk Province informed them they had found a sun bear caught in a snare. Along the way to locate the sun bear, the rangers removed 199 snares and finally located the bear at 8:10 PM, several hours after dark, by following its noises. The bear’s front left paw was trapped in a rope snare. She was trying to release herself by pulling on her leg and, understandably, was acting aggressively. The rangers could not get close enough to help the bear and there was no cell phone reception in the area so they camped nearby to guard the bear that night.

The next morning, three rangers left the area to find cell reception and called the Wildlife Alliance office in Phnom Penh to request emergency assistance from our Care for Rescued Wildlife staff who specialize in handling and treating injured wild animals. The team dispatched with a veterinarian, drove for several hours and then hiked in to reach the site where the bear was snared by 4:05 PM. The vet sedated the bear so the team could get close enough to release her from the snare. The bear had sustained heavy injuries to the snared paw. She received initial treatment on site and was then carried to a truck and transported to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre for further treatment and rehabilitation.

Generous donors like you ensure our rangers are able to patrol the Cardamoms continuously, which is vital because we never know when a wild animal in need will be discovered. Thank you for protecting animals like this sun bear by supporting this project.