Crocodiles rescued from Cambodia dam destruction

Workers from Fauna and Flora International take a blood sample from crocodile at Phnom Tamao wildlife centre (Reuters)

Thu, 14 Apr 2011
APTN

Lurking in the still waters by the banks of a Cambodian lake is a silent killer.

However, the Siamese crocodile is itself in grave danger.

Less than 100 years ago, this large reptile was abundant in much of Southeast Asia.

But today Siamese crocodiles are listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered with fewer than 250 adults left in the wild, almost all of which are in remote parts of southwest and northeast Cambodia.

Sam Han is the Cambodian Forestry Administration Project Officer of the Cambodian Crocodile Conservation Project set up in 2000 to help save the Siamese crocodile from extinction.

Siamese Crocodile Conservation in Cambodia

2010-07-13
New Tang Dynasty TV

Conservationists are trying to protect thirteen endangered baby Siamese crocodiles in Cambodia.

They will care for the crocodiles for about a year then release them into the wild.

Conservation group Fauna and Flora International, or FFI, says uncontrolled hunting and habitat loss has reduced the number of Siamese crocodiles to less than 250 in the wild.

Cambodia will flood most of the Areng River Valley, a critical breeding habitat for the crocodile, in order to build a hydroelectric dam.

FFI and the Cambodian government are working to develop a long-term survival strategy for the crocodiles.

[Adam Star, Fauna and Flora International]:
"They are an important species and Cambodia has what is believed to be the largest population left in the world. And the amount of care that has been given to this shows that the government is interested. I'm hoping though that we can make the right decisions in the future, that we can be able to move these crocodiles safely and others like them to safe areas where they will not be harmed by hydro dams."

It's a concern shared by others who work closely with the animals.

[Lon Deth, Conservationist]:
"I'm worried that when they build the hydro dam, the water level in this area will not be stable."

The FFI works to train locals to protect crocodiles from poachers and improve management of natural resources, for the benefit of future generations.

Siamese crocodiles are among the smaller species of freshwater crocodile, with males averaging almost 10 feet in length.

Endangered crocodiles hatched in Cambodia

Siamese crocodile (Photo: J. Holden)

Thursday, June 10, 2010
By OUK NAVOUTH and JERRY HARMER
AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Conservationists in Cambodia are celebrating the hatching of a clutch of eggs from one of the world's most critically endangered animals.

Thirteen baby Siamese crocodiles crawled out of their shells over the weekend in a remote part of the Cardamom Mountains in southwestern Cambodia, following a weekslong vigil by researchers who found them in the jungle.

Experts believe as few as 250 Siamese crocodiles are left in the wild, almost all of them in Cambodia but with a few spread between Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam and possibly Thailand.

The operation to protect and hatch the eggs was mounted by United Kingdom-based Fauna and Flora International, for whom conservation of this once-abundant species is a key program.

"Every nest counts," program manager Adam Starr told Associated Press Television News. "To be able to find a nest is a very big success story, to be able to hatch eggs properly is an even bigger success story."

The nest, with 22 eggs inside, was discovered in the isolated Areng Valley. Fauna and Flora International volunteers removed 15 of them to a safe site and incubated them in a compost heap to replicate the original nest. They left seven behind because they appeared to be unfertilized.

A round-the-clock guard was mounted to keep away predators like monitor lizards. Last weekend the crocodiles began calling from inside the shells, a sure sign they were about to hatch.

Within hours 10 emerged — and a further surprise was in store. Three of the eggs left behind at the original nest also hatched. A field coordinator, Sam Han, discovered the squawking baby crocodiles when he went to recover a camera-trap from the site.

"When I first saw the baby crocodiles they stayed and swam together near the near site. They were looking for their mother," he said. He snapped a few photos of the hatchlings, their noses poking out of the water.

To cap the success, the camera-trap yielded two infrared shots of the mother crocodile returning to the nest.

The reptiles are now being kept in a water-filled pen in a local village in the jungle-covered mountain range. The indigenous Chouerng people who live there revere crocodiles as forest spirits and consider it taboo to harm them. It's likely they'll be looked after for a year before being released into the wild.

But the euphoria is tempered by hard-edged reality. This part of the Areng Valley has been earmarked for a major hydropower project. The conservation group is looking for other areas of similar habitat to release the juveniles when the time comes.

"To put these crocodiles back into the Areng Valley could spell certain doom for them," Starr said.

The Siamese crocodile has suffered a massive decline over the last century, because of a high demand for its soft skin. Commercial breeders also brought them to stock farms where they crossed them with larger types of crocodile, producing hybrids which further reduced numbers of the pure Siamese.

In 1992 it was declared "effectively extinct in the wild" before being rediscovered in the remote Cardamoms in Cambodia eight years later.

Siamese crocodiles take 15 years to reach sexual maturity, complicating efforts to revive the population. Only a handful of the 13 new crocs are likely to survive long enough to make a long-term impact on numbers.

New hopes for Siamese croc in Cambodia ... not the Thaksin kind, but the real animal kind

The discovery in Cambodia of rare Siamese crocodiles has excited conservationists

New crocodile hopes in Cambodia

Tuesday, 10 November 2009
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Conservationists say there is fresh hope for one of the world's rarest reptiles.

DNA tests have found 35 pure-bred Siamese crocodiles at a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia.

There are fewer then 250 of the species left in the wild, but the crocodiles at the sanctuary could now form the basis of a captive-breeding programme.

Siamese crocodiles may be smaller than some other species, but they're easily capable of breaking human limbs.

So for the conservationists at the Phnom Tamao wildlife rescue centre, taking DNA samples was a hazardous task.

In February this year, they wrangled and wrestled 69 of the beasts so they could gather genetic information.

And now it turns out all the hard work was worth it.

Thirty-five crocodiles have been confirmed as pure-bred Siamese - including six adults which may be suitable for starting off a captive breeding programme.

And more than two dozen younger crocs may be released into the wild when they are old enough.

The discovery continues a remarkable comeback for the species.

Siamese crocodiles were declared extinct in the 1990s - before a small population was discovered in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains.

But the conservation organisation Fauna and Flora International has warned that any celebrations would be premature.

Siamese crocodiles mature slowly.

So it will take 15 years before the breeding programme comes to fruition.

And in the meantime, everything from poaching to hydroelectric projects pose a threat to crocodiles and their habitats.

Fight to save crocs

Picture: J Holden

By chris.elliott@cambridge-news.co.uk
Cambridge News (UK)

SCIENTISTS from Cambridge are helping to save one of the world's rarest crocodiles from extinction.

The Siamese crocodile, which lives in Cambodia, is at risk because of illegal crocodile farming. Demand for the reptile's meat and hide, which is used to make shoes and handbags, has led to virtually all of the population being wiped out.

In a bid to help the animal survive, the Cambodian government has set up a rescue centre, where about 70 crocs are being kept.

The plan is to breed them in captivity and then release as many as possible back into the wild, but first it is necessary to find out whether they are pure-bred Siamese crocodiles or hybrids.

Scientists from the Cambridge-based organisation Fauna & Flora International (FFI) are helping to establish this by DNA testing.

An FFI spokeswoman told the News: "If a suitable number of pure-bred Siamese crocodiles can be identified through DNA analysis, it will mark the beginning of the first ever Siamese crocodile captive breed and release programme in Cambodia."

She said the Cambodian Crocodile Conservation Programme was set up in 2000 when Siamese crocodiles were rediscovered in Cambodia by Dr Jenny Daltry, senior conservation biologist at FFI, and Mr Chheang Dany of the Cambodian Forestry Administration.

"Since the rediscovery, FFI and its partners have scoured Cambodia and neighbouring countries to establish more information on the status and distribution of Siamese crocodiles."

They have found a small number of them living in the waterways of the Cardamom Mountains in south-west Cambodia, along with other endangered species such as the hairy-nosed otter and the fishing cat.

The Cambridge team has to be careful. Fully grown, the crocs can reach 3.5m in length, more than 11ft.

Cambodian company offers crocodiles by mail

May 21st, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - As the price of crocodiles for commercial use plummets locally, a Cambodian company has sought out an alternative market niche - mail-order pet crocs.

The hybrid saltwater Siamese crocodiles might not make loving pets, but they do possess lovable qualities, Crocodiles Cambodia insisted on its website.

For 2,355 dollars, the company mails 18 eggs and an incubator wrapped in brown paper and said more than 90 per cent of its shipments make it through customs around the world.

For those who might need a helping hand with their new babies, Siem Reap-based Crocodiles Cambodia provides links to crocsite.com with tips for new owners.

"No doubt when you think of a crocodile as your pet, you might be wondering if it will work out," crocsite.com said.

But have no fear - or only a few, at least.

"They can be harmful for the inexperienced lovers," the website said. "... There is no doubt that crocodiles are not for kids. They can be ... potentially harmful to other pets, and even people."

Contacted by telephone, Crocodiles Cambodia staff declined comment on their mail-order reptiles, preferring to dwell on the virtues of the eggs as a delicious snack if they fail to hatch.

And that might be a valid point. Chris Hunter of Florida-based Nature Coast Exotics Inc said he was not sure whether eggs could be shipped at all.

"Crocodilian eggs ... cannot be rotated more than 20 degrees in any direction," he said by e-mail. Otherwise, the embryos drown, he said.

He had concerns about the breed, too, which is aggressive, he said, and warned that potential buyers might be biting off more than they can chew.

"The hybrid crocs grow twice as fast as pure-breds," he warned.