Animals

Five endangered polecats were rescued yesterday morning after provincial military police in collaboration with Wildlife Alliance staff stopped a man on a motorbike who was attempting to sell them at the Veal Ring market in Preah Sihanouk’s Real Rinh commune, according to Prey Nob district ...

More than 40 monkeys were rescued by customs officials at the Cambodia-Vietnam border in Memot yesterday, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Chuon Phally, the Deputy Commander at Tbong Khmom military camp. ...

Cambodia’s Royal Turtle is nearly extinct, with fewer than 10 left in the wild, because increased sand dredging and illegal clearance of flooded forest have shrunk its habitat, a conservationist group warned Monday. ...

Four farmers were arrested and charged yesterday over allegations of killing an endangered banteng, considered to be one of the most beautiful species of wild ox, in a protected forest in Mondulkiri, according to officials. ...

Hundreds of dead bats were found inside Siem Reap’s Phnom Bouk temple in Banteay Srey district after district police and environmental officers were notified by local residents on Tuesday. ...

A patrol in Seima Protected Forest in Mondulkiri last weekend found a young great hornbill near an illegal logging site. Hornbill sightings have become rarer as the bird’s population drops. ...

A leading Indian conservationist and tiger expert is warning that a multimillion-dollar scheme to reintroduce the big cat to Cambodia will be a “tragic failure” that could cost lives, and that its advocates will come to rue the attempt.    ...

The number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in 100 years, marking a major turning point in the big cat’s plight against poaching and habitat loss. Figures collated from national surveys conducted in tiger range states and from the International Union ...

There will be discussions on whether some tigers can be relocated from India to Cambodia, at the third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. No evidence of tigers have been found in Cambodia since 2007 and the World Wide Fund for Nature recently declared tigers ...

A driver’s assistant has been arrested for smuggling 18 turtles hidden in mattress covers in a truck from Thailand on Saturday in Kampong Chhnang’s Toul Kralanh village, according to officials. ...

Eight tigers will be released into the Cambodian wild in an unprecedented plan projected to cost between $20 and $50 million, the Ministry of Agriculture and WWF-Cambodia announced at an event in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.   ...

A truck transporting corn from Battambang to Prey Vang province was seized by forestry officials on Monday evening after hundreds of turtles and pythons were found stashed inside, according to officials. ...

The Ministry of Environment is encouraging people living in or around protected areas to start feeding and domesticating wild animals, and to abstain from eating them, with similar strategies in animal conservation being attempted in communities in Preah Vihear province. ...

Villagers in the Cardamoms said earlier this month that the illegal practice of capturing wild long-tailed macaque monkeys is alive and well, despite a government ban. The practice was outlawed in 2010, after wild captures devastated Cambodian populations of the monkeys, but high demand by ...

The first graduates of a special training program for elite forest rangers began work this month in Preah Vihear’s protected forest.The 29 newly-minted rangers will be responsible for leading efforts to stop illegal logging, land clearance, and poaching in a forest that is home to ...

Cambodia may seek tigers from India as it plans to reinstate the big cat in the Southeast Asian nation. The last tiger was sighted in Cambodia in 2007.Representatives from Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand participated in a two day study programme to understand the successful tiger ...

The trip to the hills of eastern Cambodia had all the makings of a luxurious getaway: delicious fresh fruit fed by hand, a dip in a refreshingly cold watering hole and a relaxing massage. At the Mondulkiri Project, it’s not the people who call the ...

Decades after poachers stripped the forests surrounding Angkor Wat of large mammals, an innovative conservation group is bringing them back. Already, Wildlife Alliance has rewilded the forest with gibbons and langurs. And more are coming. ...

The rate at which the population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River is declining has dropped dramatically in recent years, although more dolphins must be protected into adulthood to save the species from extinction, according to a new report released Tuesday. ...

The pangolin is slow and has no teeth—its main defense is curling up into a ball on the dense forest floor. It’s an easy target for poachers looking to cash in on the mammal’s much-prized meat or the supposed medicinal qualities of the tiny anteater’s ...

An initiative to re-home abused, over-worked domestic elephants is supporting the conservation of one of Cambodia’s last and most species-rich rainforests, writes William Laurance. Growing ecotourism in the area, attracted by the elephants, is engaging indigenous communities in forest protection and helping to stave off ...

Fish stocks in the Mekong River in Cambodia and the Vietnamese Delta could be halved if 11 planned hydropower dams go ahead, according to the preliminary results of an extensive study funded by the Vietnamese government. ...

A Vietnamese national was charged with smuggling animal parts Tuesday after he was caught with 43 kg of ivory at Siem Reap International Airport on Sunday night, officials said. ...

Fishing cats are a rare species of predatory feline found in South and Southeast Asia. For decades, fishing cat populations have been in decline. The latest sightings were made possible by a remote cameras set up by researchers with Cambodia’s Center for Biodiversity Conservation ...