Help Care for Rescued Animals in Cambodia

Wildlife Alliance proudly accepts all animals in need to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC), no matter the size of the animal or the severity of its condition. Our primary goal is to release every animal we take in back to his or her natural habitat, although that is not always possible if his or her injuries are too severe or if there is not a suitable habitat for the animal. Unless the animal is in need of permanent care and treatment, we are constantly working to lessen their dependency on humans and helping them become fit for the wild again. When an animal is ready to be released, we often transition them to their new habitat by keeping them in a spacious forest enclosure that immerses them in the wild.

In the second quarter of this year, we released 425 animals from PTWRC and our Wildlife Rehabilitation Station. Some of the highlights were 2 slow lorises, 85 pythons, 21 long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, 15 common palm civets, 2 leopard cats, and many more. We were especially pleased with the release process of the slow lorises. Like most of the slow lorises we have released, these two did not need a lengthy acclimatization period and were immediately able to care for themselves in the wild. They never returned for the food we continue to put out for them, but every now and then, we do spot them on camera traps so we know they are doing well.

As for future releases, we are currently preparing our sun bears to venture out on their own.  Our young male sun bear, Tela, is becoming less dependent on his surrogate mother, Sopheap. Sun bears are highly solitary animals and Tela is starting to exhibit greater independence. It should not be long before Tela feels completely comfortable being on his own and we can begin his acclimatization period. The pair of muntjac deer we have been acclimatizing for our Angkor reintroduction program had a fawn in April, and the youngster and his parents are doing well. We hope that we will soon be able to release the family either in Angkor Forest or around WRS.

Thank you for supporting our rescued animals every step of the way, from rehabilitation to their return to the wild. 

The New Year brought in an influx of baby animals that were either born at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC) or were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. Phnom Tamao Willdife Rescue Center had a lot of success stories in the first quarter of 2017. In just 3 months 401 new arrivals at the rescue center; 32 animals were born including and 344 animals were released either within the Phnom Tamao Protected forest or in Koh Kong by the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team. On March 23, a very young pangolin was brought to PTWRC by a civilian who saved it from being sold to a restaurant. A group of Cambodians found a female pangolin and her baby clinging to her back walking around Phnom Penh! The group was going to sell the pair to a local restaurant where they were hoping to fetch $250 for the Critically Endangered species. The girl pleaded with the group to at least give her the infant, convincing them that it was worthless. After she took the infant home and was not able to feed it, she brought it to our team. This baby came to us with its eyes barely open, but is now a little adventurer, already climbing trees and always exploring!

Earlier this year,another baby animal arrived to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, an injured bull guar calf from Ratanakiri Province. Due to a snare injury, this calf was swollen above the hoof on his hind leg; although there were no open wounds. Through their extensive experience, caretakers knew that the injury needed to be reopened to allow the built up blood and toxins to be released so that the animal would not lose its limb or life. After careful and persistent rehabilitation and care, the gaur’s leg has now fully healed and he is now doing well in our nursery!

This gaur calf is just the latest animal to arrive at PTWRC after being trapped by a snare. A shocking and disappointing number of animals are affected through crippling injury or death by the current snare crisis in Southeast Asia. To help combat this crisis, we have created a microproject to help our forest rangers remove snares from the forests and deter poachers from setting new ones. With only 44 days left to donate to this campaign we still need to raise over $2,300 to reach our goal! Please donate today to help us protect animals from this cruel and indiscriminate fate!

Thank you for your generous support of our Care for Rescued Wildlife program and for helping us give thousands of animals a second chance at a life in the wild!