Elderly beggars in Cambodia

យាយ​ តា​ចាស់​ៗ ខ្លះ​មាន​អាយុ​រហូត​ដល់​ជាង ៨០ ឆ្នាំ មាន​ប្រមាណ​ពី​ ៦០ ទៅ ៧០ នាក់​ អង្គុយ​​បណ្តាក់​គ្នា ចាំ​សុំ​ទាន​នៅ​តាម​ផ្លូវ​​ដី​ហុយ​ ចូល​ទៅ​​សួន​សត្វ​ភ្នំ​តាម៉ៅ ​ខេត្ត​តា​កែវ​ ក្នុង​ចម្ងាយ​ផ្លូវ​ប្រមាណ​ជា ៥ គីឡូ​ម៉ែត្រ​​បត់​ចូល​ពី​ផ្លូវ​ជាតិ​ កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​​សៅរ៍។​ ពេល​ខ្លះ យាយ​ តា​​ទាំង​នោះ​ បាន​ឈរ​ពាំង​មុខ​ឡាន​សុំ​លុយ ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​មាន​ការ​រំខាន​យ៉ាង​ខ្លាំង​។ យាយ​ តា​ទាំង​នេះ ខ្លះ​មិន​មាន​កូន​​ទី​ពឹង​ទេ ដោយ​​កូន​ត្រូវ​ស្លាប់​​អស់​​ក្នុង​សម័យ​​សង្គ្រាម​ ពិសេស​​ក្នុង​​សម័យ​​​ខ្មែរ​ក្រហម​​។ តើ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​​មាន​​គោល​​នយោបាយ​យ៉ាងណា​​ដល់​ពលរដ្នចាស់​ជរា​​បែប​​នេះ​?​ (រូបថត គីម​ឡុង​)

Last Saturday, between 60 to 70 elderly folks - some in their 80s - line up the 5 km dirt road leading to Phnom Ta Mao zoo in Takeo. Some time, these elderly beggars would block the road to annoy travelers. Most of these elderly folks have nobody they can depend on. Their children died during the war era, in particular under the KR regime. Does the government has any policy to assist these elderly beggars? (Photo: Kimlong, The Phnom Penh Post)

Elephant With Prosthetic Foot In Cambodia (VIDEO)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FVljK6fosDI

7/28/11
From Wildlife Alliance

PHNOM TAMAO - In 2007, orphaned baby elephant Chhouk was found wandering alone in the forests of Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. Badly emaciated and separated from his mother, this endangered Asian elephant had lost his left front foot due to injuries sustained from a poacher’s snare. The infection and severity of the illness represented certain death for a young elephant alone in the forest.

The Cambodian government requested the assistance of Wildlife Alliance and wildlife rescue and care director Nick Marx, who made the arduous journey and stayed alongside Chhouk for more than a week while his immediate injuries were tended to. When Chhouk had been stabilized, the injured elephant was transported by truck to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in a difficult and treacherous 26-hour journey.

Cambodian killer elephant dies in new home

PHNOM PENH, Wednesday 16 February 2011 (AFP) - An elephant that killed its owner and then went on a 10-day rampage in the Cambodian countryside before being taken in by an animal rescue centre has died unexpectedly, officials said Wednesday.

The five-tonne bull elephant, named Sambo, terrorised villagers in southwest Cambodia and destroyed their crops before he was subdued by wildlife workers in December and moved to the centre on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

For safety reasons, Sambo had restraints placed on his front legs and was kept away from other elephants.

Conservationists hope to avoid teenage kicks over elephant's false leg

Handlers face daunting task of fitting a powerful and dangerous male Cambodian elephant with a new and larger false leg

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Fiona MacGregor

guardian.co.uk

When English wildlife rescuer Nick Marx found three-legged baby elephant Chhouk wandering through the Cambodian jungle, he thought the injured youngster would never survive the snare injuries that cost him his front foot. But after a UK-based prosthetic charity's groundbreaking intervention to fit Chhouk with a false leg two years ago, the little elephant has gone from strength to strength. And as Chhouk, now aged five, enters the elephant equivalent of his hormonal teens, his handlers are faced with the daunting task of fitting a powerful and dangerous male elephant with a new and larger false leg.

Marx and his team at the Phnom Tamao rescue centre, outside the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, are using a hands-off training methods along with the help of Chhouk's adopted "big sister" Lucky, an older female elephant who was also rescued as a baby, to teach him to enter a special enclosure where he can have his false foot safely fitted. It will also minimise his contact with humans allowing him to live a more natural life according to Marx.

Meanwhile staff from the Cambodia Trust, a UK-based charity which runs a school for creating human prosthetics in the heavily land-mined south-east Asian country, are trying to come up with innovative ways to create a false leg that is strong enough to keep the increasingly heavy elephant on his feet.

Marx, and the Wildlife Alliance charity which supports Chhouk, are currently raising funds for the new $30,000 (£19,234) enclosure for Chhouk. He will enter a confined space where his keepers can reach through and fit his foot from behind protective barriers. He has two prosthetics - made from plastic and the kind of foam used inside training shoes – a sturdy one for day time and a softer more comfortable one he wears during the night when putting less weight on it.

"He's a brave little chap and it's his courage and tenacity that have kept him alive," said Marx as he watched Chhouk and Lucky playing together during their daily bath. But though playful Chhouk still looks cute, Marx warned that an adult male elephant is always dangerous. It is rare for an elephant to survive long after losing a limb, and although two female elephants in Thailand have been fitted with prosthetic limbs in recent years, Chhouk's male hormones make him a far more troublesome patient.

"He's just a little boy getting on with his life and mostly as long as he's got his food he's happy. But he's a male elephant and they can be aggressive," said Marx.

Wildlife charities in Cambodia believe there are now as few as 200-300 wild elephants remaining in Cambodia, although population studies there have only begun recently and data remains sketchy.

Wildlife in Cambodia Survived War but Still Under Threat

During recent years of peace, wildlife in Cambodia continues to face threats from poaching and trafficking. The Cambodian government and its non-governmental organization partners have tried to preserve vulnerable wildlife facing extinction. They some were rescued from poachers and kept in Phnom Tamao Zoo.

Nick Marx, wildlife rescue director of Wildlife Alliance in Cambodia, met supporters and made a presentation Sept 24 to potential donors at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, in Washington DC.

At Phnom Tamao, a Zoo of Rescued Wild Things

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
07 October 2009

Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao zoo, with 1,200 animals and around 80 species, is a rare facility, populated mostly by animals indigenous to the country, many of them confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade.

Nick Marx, an animal husbandry specialist for Wildlife Alliance in Phnom Penh, is director of the group’s wildlife rescue program at the zoo. In a recent interview with VOA Khmer in Washington, where he visited in September, Marx discussed some of the zoo’s characteristics.

“There are a lot wild animals there, more than before,” he said. “We are helping the forest conservative administration to make cages for the animals. Phnom Tamao is under the supervision of Cambodian forest conservative, and we help them there.”

In the US, Marx visited Washington, New York, Denver, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“There are a lot of Cambodian wildlife [specimens] in Phnom Tamao, because the Cambodians confiscated those animals from being traded, then they freed them at Phnom Tamao zoo,” he said. “Phnom Tamao zoo is different from the zoos in some other countries, as Phnom Tamao doesn’t import any animals from the other countries, except the Cambodian wild animals.”

Four veterinarians take care of the animals, he said, many of which are protected.

“In Cambodia now, killing, trapping and catching wild animals is illegal,” he said. “The Cambodian government now strongly protects wild animals. They don’t allow the hunters to kill animals anymore.”

Elephant captures hearts

8/12/2008
BY ADAM IPSEN
Latrobe Valley Express (Austalia)

TWO former Newborough residents are on a quest to save a three year-old baby elephant from a lifetime of hardship.

The elephant, `Chhouk' lost one of its feet in a hunting trap in Cambodia after its mother was killed by poachers.

The infant was left to die but was saved by Wildlife Alliance, which had to amputate the foot.

Chhouk now needs a prosthetic leg or he will develop serious bone deformities, particularly to his spine.

Enormous strain will be put on one side of the elephant's body as he grows up.

Fortunately Chhouk is young enough to learn how to use a prosthetic leg, according to zoo officials, however, the task will not be easy.

Former Newborough residents Barb Braniff and Ash Eason own a cafe in Phnom Penh and run tours at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Park where Chhouk lives.

All the animals at the park are rescued from desperate situations.

They have raised money to build a special pool for Chhouk as swimming is an important part of a young elephant's development.

Now they are appealing for people back home in the Valley to help them raise money for a prosthesis.

Ash's parents in Newborough, Jock and Dianne Eason have appealed to the community to help baby Chhouk.

``Obviously he's a lovable little elephant, Barb just thinks he's wonderful and calls him `little ellie'. She'll do anything to give him a normal life,'' Ms Eason said.

She said the other elephant at Phnom Tamao, Lucky, had `painted' pictures that were sold for Chhouk's pool.

``Lucky's a very nice elephant, and I think she (Barb) wants the same life for Chhouk as Lucky's got,'' she said.

A hospital in Cambodia has agreed to make the prosthetic although the cost is yet to be determined.

Money can be donated directly to Chhouk and other elephants at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Chhouk and other animals can also be sponsored through the Wildlife Alliance website on http://wildlifealliance.org/donate/sponsor-an-animal/

Yellow-cheeked crested gibbon at Ta Mao Zoo

I vant to dreenk your blahhd: When visiting Cambodia's Phnom Tamau Zoo, be sure to take along some garlic and a sharpened wooden stake. (Yellow-cheeked crested gibbon.) (Heng Sinith / AP)

Phnom Ta Mao zoo plans to release some of its bears

Bears preservation center at Phnom Ta Mao zoo (Photo: AFP)

11 June 2008
By Nhim Sophal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Unofficial translation from French by Tola Ek

An official of the Ta Mao national zoo announced on Wednesday 11 June a plan to release bears back to nature, following a re-acquaintance period with wilderness.

86 bears of all age, confiscated from anti-wild animal trafficking raids, or surrendered by private parties, will return to their natural habitat, the zoo communiqué stated.

Some of these bears were kept by private parties in spite of a law in 2002 preventing such practice. Oknha Mong Reththy (one of Hun Sen’s friends and cronies) set the example by turning a bear he kept at home to the zoo.

Nhek Ratanak Pich, the zoo director, explained about the difficulties encountered to release these bears. Caged, fed in cage with artificial foods, sometimes for several years, these bears would be unable to survive if they are not trained to find food on their own in nature first. “We need time and money before being able to release these bears back into the forest,” he added. He indicated that the upkeep of these numerous bears also increased the cost to the zoo.