Aussies aid Cambodians in wildlife program

January 16, 2007
AP

Australian wildlife experts have joined an international training program to help Cambodian officials thwart wildlife trafficking.

Cambodian police, forest rangers and customs officials began the 10-day training program on Tuesday in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.

The program was organised by US-based conservation group WildAid and conducted by law enforcement agents from the United States and wildlife experts from Australia and New Zealand.

Wildlife trade has escalated to "alarming levels" in the region but poses "an especially acute threat" in Cambodia, which is poor but has a rich array of wildlife, the group said in a statement.

"In this high-stake, multibillion dollar business, well-organised wildlife traffickers are taking bolder, more destructive actions that could wipe out the region's wildlife in the matter of years," the statement said.

The training was aimed at teaching techniques in surveillance, profiling and interviewing suspects and was to include simulated raids and arrests to prepare Cambodian officials for real-life scenarios, the statement said.

It is part of the Wildlife Enforcement Network that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, launched in December 2005. ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Tim Redford, deputy director of WildAid's field operations, said the training's significance was boosted by the presence of three representatives from China, a country where trafficked animals are often destined for restaurants or for use in traditional medicine.

"China is one of the important consuming countries of wildlife products, and we are willing to have more collaboration with" ASEAN countries to combat wildlife trafficking, said Dr Li Zhang, an associate professor of Beijing Normal University, who works on wildlife issues for the Chinese government.