Animals

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. ...

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. ...

Many cattle in Svay Rieng province’s Svay Chrum and Chantrea districts have fallen ill or died from foot-and-mouth and other diseases over the past few weeks, resulting in the launch of a cattle vaccination campaign. ...

A Kampong Speu community is looking to raise money to build three watering holes for wildlife, especially the endangered banteng, for the upcoming hot season after a nearby sugarcane plantation allegedly filled in existing streams. ...

Custom officials seized 35 live ferrets weighing about 80 kilograms in Kandal province after a group of smugglers prepared to transport them to Vietnam by boat, authorities said yesterday. ...

Local authorities confiscated more than 30 kilograms of rare wildlife meat being illegally sold yesterday during a second raid in eight days at a market in Stung Treng province, though once again, no arrests were made.​ ...

As a signatory to an international treaty to protect endangered species, Cambodia has made the sale of shark fins completely illegal. In practice, however, fins are sold openly and without repercussions from authorities. ...

Three men were detained in Tbong Khmum province on Saturday afternoon for smuggling civets and snakes in the back of a Toyota SUV, possibly with the intention of selling them in neighboring Vietnam. ...

Yesterday was hailed as a “good day for pangolins” after a meeting of signatories to the CITES wildlife protection treaty decided to move the Asian species of “scaly anteater” to the agreement’s Appendix 1 category, which bans all commercial trade in the small mammals in ...

A car filled with a slithering menagerie of reptiles destined to be sold at market in Vietnam was seized by Cambodia-Vietnam border officials in Kandal province on Wednesday night, according to Koh Thom district police. ...

More than 200 critically endangered royal turtles will be moved to a new center in Koh Kong’s Mondol Seima district today with 13 Siamese crocodiles also being relocated. Eng Mengey, communications officer for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said royal turtles were now facing threats to ...

The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) has restarted a long-dormant dog breeding program it hopes will replenish its stock of explosive-sniffing canines as well as its dwindling coffers by selling them to others, including riot police. The first litter of six Malinois, a type of Belgian ...

To celebrate World Elephant Day today, the conservation group Wildlife Alliance (WA) celebrated its achievement of zero poaching of the Cardamom Rainforest’s Asian elephant population in the last decade, according to a press release on Wednesday. ...

The environmental protection group WWF has criticized the penalty imposed on three brothers arrested in Mondolkiri province over the weekend for filling the trunk of a car with turtles, lizards, snakes, a monkey and a civet—all of them meant to be food for a party. ...

Rangers from the Sre Pok Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province intercepted two men and a minor allegedly smuggling more than 50 wild animals on Saturday evening, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Koh Nhek district police. ...

Evidence that a deadly pesticide is being used to kill wildlife at watering holes in two provinces has raised fears of widespread poisoning that could jeopardize biodiversity and the health of rural communities, according to a new report.   ...

A female Irrawaddy dolphin and its baby were found dead yesterday morning in Kratie province’s Chet Borei district, though the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said the cause of death is still unknown.   ...

An endangered Asian elephant died in eastern Cambodia after sustaining a severe foot wound caused by a snare trap, officials said on Monday. ...

A new species of ant has been discovered in Cambodia by researchers from Japan. Its name is Crematogaster indosinensis, and it is described in Annals of the Entomological Society of America. ...

Environmental DNA collection could be a “silver bullet” for tracking and protecting critically endangered fish in the Mekong, according to a new report.   ...

A Khmer version of a smartphone app to help law enforcement deal with the illegal wildlife trade was launched yesterday. ...