Help Care for Rescued Animals in Cambodia

The past several months at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre (PTWRC) have been busy. In the last quarter of 2021, a total of 453 new animals arrived, 7 animals were born, and 476 were released. We have also experienced some challenges recently with the troupe of Critically Endangered douc langurs that were successfully hand-raised at PTWRC and with Chhouk, our disabled elephant who walks with the aid of a prosthetic foot.

In October 2021, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team saved another baby douc langur, this time a red-shanked douc. The other doucs we are caring for are all black-shanked. The new arrival was taken to the elephant area for care, as we did with all the other doucs and has been named You-F. Although a year younger than the others, she is now fully integrated into our little band of doucs.

The sad news with the doucs is that towards the end of December, You-D suddenly became weak. I noticed this and we separated her from the group. She died the following day. This was tragic as we thought we had cracked the problems that most people encounter when caring for this delicate species. The following day Vok and Sol, the two keepers who have done such a diligent job looking after the baby doucs, said they thought that You-C was thin and becoming weak. This may have been paranoia on their part, but I was unwilling to take any chances. I felt that a Herpes virus could be the problem and there was no time to lose. We immediately placed You-C on a course of the human Herpes drug, Aciclovir. Thankfully, You-C seems fine now and the rest of the troupe remains well.

We have also had to overcome some challenges with Chhouk, who lost his foot to a snare when he was a calf and has walked with the aid of a prosthesis since 2009. The injuries to his stump are deep rooted and we continue to treat him twice daily with antibiotics and foot baths. It is really difficult to get elephants Chhouk and Lucky to take medication as these two always work out that there are pills inside the ‘bribe’ and refuse to eat the meds. After trying many different ways, we finally managed to get Chhouk to take the Augmentin pills he needs inside sweet bread rolls, and after an initial struggle he is now taking his medicine easily. Late last year he was not able to wear his prosthesis as it was rubbing and making his wounds worse.

Progress has been gradual, but he seems to be improving slowly. Chhouk also had a wound higher up on his leg that may have been caused by sleeping on hard concrete in his night stall. We have placed mounds of sand in his outside enclosure and Chhouk sleeps outside on these during the night now. It is interesting to note that Chhouk now sleeps on both sides, whereas before we gave him the sand piles, he only slept on his left side. The Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO), who have been so attentive to Chhouk’s disability, visited at the end of November to see if they could improve the design or the manufacture of the prosthesis with respect to preventing further problems to Chhouk’s leg. We discussed various aspects – making the bottom of the shoe softer or drilling holes in the shoe to aerate and keep the leg dry. CSPO returned a week later to measure Chhouk for a new shoe and came back on December 25 with the finished article. It fits well and his wounds have healed sufficiently to allow him to wear his shoe again now, which makes him much happier.

Your generous donations support both short-term care costs for newly arrived animals that can soon be released and the significant expenses of providing lifelong care for animals like the doucs and Chhouks that sadly can never be safely released. Thank you so much for helping us to meet the needs of all the wild animals who come through the gates of Phnom Tamao.