Help Rangers Protect Endangered Cambodian Wildlife

On August 25th and September 28th, 2013 Wildlife Alliance patrol units halted two illegal shipments of rosewood in the middle of the rainforest, after intense pursuits on Sre Ambel River. Just before the traffickers escaped from their boats, they threw part of their precious shipment of timber overboard hoping to salvage some of their profits from an estimated value of $65,000.

On September 28th, an informant called a Wildlife Alliance officer at the Tatai patrol station informing him that a stock of rosewood was hidden in the Sre Ambel River after being illegally harvested from the rainforest that Wildlife Alliance is protecting. The Tatai team immediately went to search and found the stock immersed in the river, approximately 3 meters down. They found more than 6 tons of rosewood and 1.7 cubic meters of another luxury timber called Thnong. It took 2 days and the help of the Sre Ambel patrol unit to extract the timber from the water and transport it back to the station.

Four weeks prior, on August 25th at 3:00 am, 2 slow boats with 5.5 tons of rosewood were trying to pass silently in front of the Sre Ambel patrol station with engines off so as to not be noticed. But, because they are on duty at night, the patrol unit was on alert. The team immediately jumped into the patrol speed boat to chase the trafficker’s boats. The offenders started their engines to try to evade capture, but the patrol unit was faster. The offenders realized they were cornered and had no choice but to jump out of the boats and run into the rainforest. The timber was seized and transported to the patrol station. The total shipment amounted to 5.5 tons of rosewood, 9 cubic meters of thnong, and 5.5 cubic meters of other precious timber from the protected rainforest, a huge confiscation for the team.