Biodiversity

Environmental NGOs expressed concerns this week about a requirement from the Ministry of Environment to get advanced permission to patrol the Prey Lang protected forest, saying doing so could lead to illegal loggers getting tipped off, given the history of collusion with officials in the ...

Cambodia’s beloved Irrawaddy dolphins are facing troubled waters, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) yesterday flagging the riverine mammal as ‘critically endangered’ in an update to its ‘Red List’. ...

Government officials and environmental groups yesterday celebrated the discovery of 121 lesser adjutant stork nests in Preah Vihear province, chalking the success up to a joint programme to hire locals to guard the nests. Environment Ministry rangers and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) workers started counting ...

A river bird that was once a common sight along the Mekong River is now down to a population of just 50 to 60 individuals due to human interference and dam construction, conservationists and Environment Ministry officials said yesterday. ...

Prey Veng province military police and the Wildlife Alliance on Friday night conducted a raid upon a truck transporting hundreds of kilograms of illegal wildlife destined for Vietnam. ...

Fifty endangered sarus cranes have hatched from 27 nests protected by conservationists and villagers in Cambodia’s Northern Plains, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The nests are in Kulen Promtep and Chhep wildlife sanctuaries. ...

Four endangered hog deer have been recorded using camera traps for the first time in a decade in Kratie province, offering hope that the population of the species may be on the rise. ...

Nine eggs of the globally endangered white-winged duck have successfully hatched after a nest was found last month in Preah Vihear province’s Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

Officials from the forestry administration raided a home in Mondulkiri province’s O’Raing district on Tuesday, confiscating the remains and horns of various endangered animals and making one arrest. ...

More than 200 cows found with foot-and-mouth disease in two villages of Kampong Cham province’s Sambour Meas commune received medication yesterday, while about 200 others were under observation. ...

Nine photographs of rare Cambodian animals are being displayed at the Ministry of Environment, urging the public to participate in preserving critically endangered species. ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society has made its first discovery of Siamese crocodile eggs on the Sre Ambel River in Koh Kong province in six years, it announced yesterday in a statement. ...

Kampong Chhnang provincial authorities on Saturday intercepted and seized a truck loaded with 300 kilograms of live snakes and tortoises, though the wildlife traders managed to escape, a provincial Forestry Administration official said yesterday.​ ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) yesterday released 150 endangered Asian giant softshell turtles into the wild as part of a “community protection programme”, the organisation announced. Gathered from nests guarded by local communities, including former egg harvesters, the hatchlings were released into their natural habitat ...

Two farmers caught with dead monkeys in Mondolkiri province’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary have been charged with poaching endangered wildlife.   ...

The increase in commercial dry-season rice cultivation in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap floodplain is threatening the survival of the critically endangered Bengal florican, a new study suggests. ...

More than 60 cows and buffalo in Stung Treng’s Siem Pang district have died over the past two weeks following a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, while 200 cattle have been vaccinated to prevent further spread, officials said yesterday.​ ...

Authorities in Svay Rieng province on Wednesday said the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease had been brought under control by timely treatment, though their numbers on how many cows the contagious virus had infected varied wildly.Meas Sok, chief of Svay Chrum district’s Chhoeuteal commune, said ...

After spending the last three months under the watchful eye of their own personal retinue of bodyguards, nine endangered royal turtles successfully broke free from their shells on Tuesday and were transferred to the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Centre, where they will be raised. ...

Fourteen community representatives speaking for thousands of families yesterday petitioned the South Korean Embassy, Environment Ministry and Forestry Administration to halt the expansion of a controversial “reforestation” project by a Korean company situated between the protected Prey Lang forest and Mekong River. Their petition – ...

After a rampage that destroyed homes and terrified villagers, a rogue elephant was shot by police in Mondulkiri early on Friday morning, with one local mahout saying the unfortunate killing was an outgrowth of a changing way of life that has seen elephants’ traditional work ...

Eleven wild elephants were rescued on Saturday in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima protected area after becoming trapped in a former bomb crater without food for four days, though rangers will continue to monitor the herd to ensure it reaccepts one juvenile who was handled by humans ...

The Tourism Minister has called on riverside communities in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces to avoid fishing in areas where dolphins live to attract visitors who want to see the rare creatures. ...

An elephant was electrocuted by a high-power electric line early on Wednesday in a village in Preah Sihanouk province frequented by the animals, according to provincial authorities. ...