Fauna of Cambodia: still rich but living on borrowed time?

Krek (Cambodia). 06/02/2002. Children looking at monkeys being seized by the Wildlife Protection Mobile Unit. (Photo: John Vink / Magnum)

30-12-2008
By Anne-Laure Porée
Ka-set in English
Click here to read the article in French
Click here to read the article in Khmer

A few weeks ago, farmers alerted an organisation for the protection of wild fauna, claiming a buffalo had been attacked by a tiger. The news generated a wave of optimism among the rare informed specialists, filled with the hope of seeing a trace of the feline, at last. But tigers go around so unnoticed that one comes to wonder whether they still inhabit Cambodian forests. However, the answer is straight: an investigation proved that no tiger was involved in the attack. So the question is voiced: are there any Indochinese wild tigers left in Cambodia? Yes, according to wildlife conservation organisations. And yes again, according to hunters. At least, they agree on that matter... The cameras installed by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) recorded images of tigers back in 2007 and thus confirmed the presence of the typically Asian mammal – no, you will not find tigers in Africa! – in Cambodia. However, exactly how many of them are left nowadays in the country? That is the question...

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the mythic animal as an endangered species on its Red List, i.e. a species faced with a high risk of extinction in the wild. The subspecies, supposed to be living in the forests of Cambodia as well as Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China, might gather a few hundred individuals scattered here and there, but as for those solely living on the Cambodian territory, hunters' prognostic amounts to no more than twenty individuals... Véronique Audibert-Pestel, who finished in 2004 a documentary-film on tiger trafficking in Cambodia and is now the president of Poh Kao brings to light a sad reality: “Tigers can still be found today, but very few live in the wild. There are even more of them living in captivity in people's houses in the United States than in zoos! Out of 9 subspecies of tigers, three are already extinct.”

Infamous traditional remedies
The presence of the tiger, or any other big predator, on a site is the sign that the ecosystem has been preserved. But in Cambodia as in neighbouring countries, forest ecosystems have suffered a severe blow. People log forests to sell wood and cultivate the land, thus destroying the precious flora and fauna's natural habitat. Hunting and poaching, the worst nightmare for wild animals, supply a juicy market. David Emmett, regional director for the Indo-Burmese Conservation International programme, estimates that illegal trade in Southeast Asia brings in enough money to be classified second just after drug trafficking.

Cambodians rarely eat captured animals, their price being far too high. They are generally sold abroad for their meat but are also used in the preparation of traditional remedies. Pangolins, for instance, are appreciated and sought for their meat or scales, incorporated in Chinese remedies. Five tonnes of frozen pangolin meat (corresponding to the slaughtering of more than 1,400 animals) were seized in Vietnam on December 22nd. This year, the mammal has gone to be classified as a “threatened species” and now appears on the IUCN's red list.

Then, after the situation of pangolins, gibbons, whose situation seems to have worsened, and bears, who for their part are still stalked. Their bile is renowned for its ability to cure many illnesses but has to be fresh to be effective, and must therefore be collected on live bears. Nick Marx, an animal specialist at Wildlife Alliance and working with Cambodian rescuers at Phnom Tamao's Wildlife Rescue Centre – managed by the Cambodian government and benefiting from Wildlife Alliance's technical and financial aid – still remembers the rescue of a young black bear, a few years ago: “We explored the area where we found him and discovered more than 200 hunting traps there! The traps were designed in an extremely cruel and unselective manner. I remember that we found a dead muntjack deer lying not far from the bear. After five days, the bear's injured leg was so infected that we had to perform an amputation.”

The impossible return to the wild
Chhouk, a baby elephant, also ended up in the Phnom Tamao Rescue Centre, located 25 miles south of the capital Phnom Penh. The animal was found in February 2007 in the mountains of Mondulkiri, a leg stuck in a trap. Chhouk lost part of his leg because of that and has now no chance whatsoever of going back and live in the wild jungle. The team looking after him are currently seeking funds to elaborate a prosthetic leg for him and offer him a zoo life that would be similar to that of the centre's five other rescued elephants.

The most frequent seizures also include turtles and reptiles. The last one, carried out in November, involved almost 1,070 lbs worth of live turtles, cobras and pythons, found in the Kandal province on the road to Vietnam. Six months earlier, a similar seizure was made in the Battambang province and yet, the thirteen rescuers of the governmental Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team, composed of incorruptible and devoted people working day and night on their project, perfectly know that what they see and have access to is only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the major part of animal trafficking slips out of their hands, despite the information they receive and the creation of a hotline (+855-(0)12-500-094). Since the establishment of their unit in 2001, they managed to seize between 35,000 and 40,000 live animals which they released into their natural habitat whenever possible.

The surprises of nature
Fortunately, everyday life is not always synonymous with stalking and death for these animals. The forests of Cambodia, the second largest and most intact in Southeast Asia, still hold some beautiful surprises and discoveries. “Scientists came back on the Cambodian territory after the war, in the years 2000”, Tom Evans, technical advisor at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) explains. “For forty years, nobody had set foot in there and some species had never been observed before.”

Nowadays, researchers are able to carry out open-air studies on animals and plants on which no or very little data was available. And forests hold a huge quantity of species. WWF released mid-December a report stating that 1,068 new species had been identified by scientific experts in the space of ten years in the six countries sharing the Mekong river, including 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, 4 birds, 4 turtles, 2 salamanders and a toad.

Peov Somanak, a member of the Conservation International research team, recalls one of the most moving moment of his life as a researcher: the rediscovery of the hairy-nosed otter, thought to be extinct. After a long and detailed investigation among villagers and fishermen, the species was eventually identified and spotted in the Tonle Sap area but also along the Cambodian coast. “This is an incredible stroke of luck in terms of conservation!”, he said with delight.

The last sanctuaries
A WWF report, published this Tuesday December 30th, also mentions the fact that the Phnom Prich sanctuary is home to one of the most important populations of yellow-cheeked gibbons, with about 1,000 individuals counted. Phnom Prich is now one of the last shelters for this species of gibbons. Last summer, a WCS report certified that the most important population of langur monkeys, these endangered primates well-known for their stunning colours, can be found in the Seima Park in the Mondulkiri region.

Despite the good news, however, one must not forget that the density of a wild species is observed in connection with the scale of the region, since animals know no boundaries. The existing Cambodian protected areas will therefore not be enough to preserve the species.
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Raising children's awareness on wild fauna protection
Save Cambodia's Wildlife publishes children's books in Cambodia. Very educational and well-documented, these books are available in a bilingual English and Khmer version and provide large and colourful illustrations. The last pages provide information about different species. A beautiful example is the little book entitled Will You Hear My Song, which tells the story of a young pileated gibbon recounting his memories of the forest canopy, the tragic death of his parents, how he found himself taken away by poachers and how he eventually went back into the wild. Useful and simple information about eight magnificent primates living in Cambodian forests can be found in the last pages.
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Species acknowledged as endangered by the Cambodian authorities
Apart from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of all the threatened species in the world and the list drafted by the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which focuses on species threatened by international trade, the Cambodian government established its own list of endangered animals, only available in Khmer. The list, officially approved by the Cambodian authorities on January 25th 2007, includes 37 mammals, 51 bird species and 4 species of reptiles.

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Other useful web links:

- World Wildlife Fund for Nature website , more commonly known under the acronym WWF (EN)
- Wildlife Alliance page offering the possibility to make a donation to sponsor an animal and finance the elaboration of a prosthetic leg for Chhouk the elephant (EN)
- Traffic website: Traffic is an organisation in charge of monitoring wildlife trade.