Help Rangers Protect Endangered Cambodian Wildlife

Recently, the Tatai Ranger station received information about a boat heading towards the coast carrying illegal wood. According to the informant, the boat that was transporting the illegal wood was stuck in an estuary near Botum Sakor National Park due to low tide. Project Manager Eduard Lefter and the Tatai ranger team immediately headed towards the area by speedboat; as they headed south, they called the Trapeang Roung Station for backup.

An hour later, when the team finally found the boat, it was nearly empty. In fact, the informant had called them too early and the perpetrators had barely started loading the boat. As the rangers approached the area, the offenders ran away and took cover in the forest. The team found a large boat with four cubic meters (141 cubic feet) of wood, and two smaller boats ready to be loaded. There was also an astonishing 35-40 cubic meters (1,236 – 1,412 cubic feet) of timber hidden in the river, about 200-300 meters (656-986 feet) deep. After 3 hours of loading up the boats, the team transported the timber and boats back to the station, destroying what they had to leave behind.

Wildlife Alliance’s forest rangers risk their lives every day to patrol over 1.7 million acres of forest in the Southern Cardamom Mountain Range. Last year alone, the Forest Protection team conducted 7,099 patrols, confiscated over 237.7 cubic meters of illegal rosewood and timber and rescued 448 animals. Help them continue to make an impact by making a gift today!