Help Rangers Protect Endangered 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.