Help Stop Illegal Wildlife Trafficking

The Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team operations conducted over the past year indicate that while Cambodia’s illegal wildlife trade quieted down during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, local demand and supply have rebounded in recent months. The first COVID-19 case appeared in Cambodia just before Chinese New Year 2020. In late March, Cambodia’s land borders were closed to all traffic and international tourism was suspended. Many Chinese residents who had left for the holiday did not return. By May, many of the shops and restaurants that once sold wildlife products and bush meat in tourism hotspots had closed. Compared with previous years, for much of 2020 fewer restaurants and shops inspected by the Team were found to be selling illegal species or wild meat. Those that were had relatively small quantities in stock. However, in the past quarter the Team has seized both live animals and large quantities of dead wildlife, meat and parts during raids of restaurants, markets and shops across the country.

Raids on restaurants in Tbong Khmom, Kandal and Preah Sihanouk Provinces in late December 2020 yielded significant results, including saving the lives of a monocled cobra and 10 Malayan snail-eating turtles that were later able to be released into appropriate habitat. From three restaurants, a total of 19 kilos of bush meat (water monitor, Bengal monitor, red muntjac, and wild pig) were seized along with 30 dead great egrets and 154 dead water cocks.

In January 2021, the Team raided two restaurants in Siem Reap Province and confiscated 130 dead birds and 6.7kg of bushmeat. In Phnom Penh, they confiscated 13 live Malayan snail-eating turtles and 3 Asiatic softshell turtles from a restaurant whose owner was fined KHR$7,050,000 Khmer riel (almost $1720 U.S. dollars). The turtles were taken to the National Aquaculture Research and Development Institute for care before being released into their natural habitat. A few weeks later, the Team raided another capitol restaurant and confiscated 7.1kg of muntjac, wild pig, and monitor lizard meat and 80 dead birds.

In the first week of February, the Team raided two markets and five shops/restaurants selling bushmeat in Preah Sihanouk and confiscated a total of 73.9kg of wild meat from several species (wild boar, monitor lizard, peafowl, civet and red muntjac), 24 dead birds, 3 live Asian box turtles and 1 Asian leaf turtle. The following week, in collaboration with forest rangers from two Wildlife Alliance stations in the Cardamoms, the Team raided four restaurants in Koh Kong Province. Two were found to be selling bushmeat, and a total of 81.2kg of monitor lizard, civet and wild pig meat was confiscated.

Research on bushmeat consumption in Cambodia published by Fauna and Flora International in 2018 showed significant demand from urban elites who consume wildlife for a variety of reasons, including a belief that wild meat is good for their health. COVID-19 likely originated from similar viruses found in bats and pangolins being transmitted to humans through wildlife markets, which shows that wildlife consumption in fact endangers human health. While the wildlife supply in Cambodian shops seemed lower during earlier stages of the pandemic, the significant results of recent operations by the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team clearly show that COVID-19 has not ended local demand for bush meat.

Every live animal saved from the wildlife trade and every kilo of bush meat destroyed rather than consumed reduces the risk that new zoonotic diseases will emerge – and donors like you make this vital work possible. Thank you so much for your support!

If you haven’t given recently to help stop illegal wildlife trafficking, please consider making a donation now during GlobalGiving’s Little by Little campaign. From March 8-12 all online donations up to $50 will be matched at 50%!

Links:

• Research report on bushmeat consumption in Cambodia (FFI, 2018)