Help Stop Illegal Wildlife Trafficking

Between inspecting bush meat markets, raiding traders’ houses and rescuing wild animals being held illegally as pets, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team were very busy in June! Here’s an update on the live animals rescued last month with your generous donations.

Along with our network of undercover informants, Wildlife Alliance staff and those working for other local conservation organizations are wild animal lovers and the Team frequently gets reports from them of suspected wildlife crimes. On June 8, a Wildlife Alliance staff member passed on a report of a pileated gibbon being illegally kept in Phnom Penh. During the Team’s inspection, the gibbon’s owner explained that he had raised it since it was a baby. In such cases, people often do not know it is illegal to keep any native wild animal as a pet in Cambodia. After the Team educated the owner about wildlife protection laws, he agreed to donate the gibbon in order to avoid any legal penalties and it was taken to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. A few days later, staff from another conservation NGO contacted our hotline to put us in touch with a government official who had just been given a young pileated gibbon. Knowing it would have a better life at Phnom Tamao, he decided to contact our Team and donate it.

Similarly, in mid-June one of our veterinarians reported that a Tycoon in Phnom Penh wished to donate a hog badger that had been given to him. One of the badger’s legs was injured, and it was taken for veterinary care. Unfortunately, the injury - most likely cause by being caught in a snare - was severe and the leg had to be amputated. Sadly, this is one of those cases where the animal has suffered permanent damage and it can never be safely released, but it will receive lifelong captive care through our programs.

In late-June, the Team inspected a petrol station in Pursat Province and rescued 1 pileated gibbon and 2 green peafowl that were being raised there. On the same day other Team members who were on duty in Phnom Penh were investigating an online wildlife trader who had just posted a silvered langur for sale. They requested a search warrant from the Court of Takeo Province, where they believed it was being held. Due to the small number of Team members in town that day to take part in the operation, provincial Military Police, local Forestry Administration officers and a Deputy Prosecutor collaborated on the raid. The team rescued 2 Oriental-pied hornbills, 1 injured green peafowl and 1 baby large-toothed ferret badger and fined the trader $339. It turned out that the silvered langur that was the original impetus for the raid was not actually at this location.

The trader admitted that another trader asked him to post the animal, and gave us information on the other trader. The investigation team is aware of trader but has not been able to catch him yet. He is believed to be living between Battambang and Banteay Meanchey Provinces in a totally different part of the country, and investigations are still ongoing to locate his exact address. This case shows how complex illegal wildlife trading networks are and how challenging it is to combat the online trade because anyone can just post a photo of an animal, and expect to earn a commission on the sale, without ever having been in contact with the animal itself.

Donations from GlobalGiving supporters like you provides the funding our Team needs to follow up with each lead it receives, be it from our informants, Wildlife Alliance staff or other concerned citizens. Thank you so much!

Sometimes it can take years to build a case against a major wildlife trafficker in Cambodia, and sometimes that patience and persistence pays off big time! Following a 2-year investigation by the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team, the Team applied for a warrant to search the home of a wildlife trader in Phnom Penh in mid-March. Due to the high volume and value of wildlife parts seized, Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit has gotten involved in the case – greatly increasing the penalties this trader faces.

During the raid, conducted in collaboration with a Phnom Penh Deputy Prosecutor and local Forestry Administration officers, the Team confiscated:

• Over 100 lbs. of ivory and 25 lbs. of Elephant molars;
• Almost 90 lbs. of Boar tusks, teeth and fur and 1 Boar skull;
• 68 pieces of Tiger skin and 72 Tiger whiskers;
• 4 purses made of Tiger skin;
• 1 mounted Lion head and 2 pieces of Lion skin;
• 78 pieces of Deer horn;
• 14 Eastern Porcupine stomachs;
• 2 Great Hornbill skulls.

The offender was sent to pre-trial detention and his assets have been frozen by the Anti-Corruption Unit’s committee on money laundering. Given the mix of Endangered species found, the trader is suspected of importing wildlife products. Officers from our Team are now collaborating with the Anti-Corruption Unit in an ongoing investigation into the full extent of his crimes, including tracing the trader’s financial transactions. Because the Anti-Corruption Unit can press charges based on economic crimes, which have more severe penalties than wildlife crimes, this collaboration is expected to result in far more serious consequences for the trader.

Your donations help to pay the essential costs that make these kinds of cases possible: wildlife investigator salaries, informant payments, legal fees, and operations’ costs. Thank you so much for helping us to shut down the illegal wildlife trade.