Cambodia Cares for its Pangolins: Rehabilitation Center Establshed

According to the Conservation International, a new facility, the Pangolin Rehabilitation Center (PRC)  has opened in Cambodia to provide specialist care to the kingdom’s endangered pangolins. The facility was established to rehabilitate injured pangolins rescued from hunters throughout Cambodia – an increasing and serious threat to the survival of this magnificent and little known species.

Opened with a Buddhist blessing and ceremony, the PRC was created through a joint initiative between Conservation International (CI) and the Forestry Administration, (within the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Royal Government of Cambodia to bolster conservation efforts for this species. The PRC is located at the Phnom Tamao Zoological Park and Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC) in Takeo Province and staffed by a well-trained and dedicated team who care for the pangolins until they are ready for release back into the wild.

The center also aims to raise awareness of the plight of the pangolin and to do so have been fitted with information signs about the species, the wildlife trade and how the public can help.  There are already six pangolins under its care, which are all victims of the wildlife trade and are receiving treatment for a range of injuries. These animals were rescued by FA rangers working in the Cardamom Mountains with support from local communities.

Annette Olsson, Scientific Technical Advisor of CI’s Greater Mekong program said, ‘The launch of this facility today gives rescued pangolins hope. Pangolins are often transported in very cruel ways by traffickers to avoid detection by authorities. Sometimes they are kept for days in plastic bags, without food or water,  hidden in small spaces. It’s common for the animals to die in transit, or after rescue, due to these terrible practices.’

In Cambodia trafficked pangolins are typically kept alive as they fetch the best price on the market live. But as they are hunted using snares and hunting dogs, many confiscated pangolins have severe injuries that require professional medical treatment before they can be released back to the wild. The Cambodian government cares deeply for the kingdom’s wildlife and have partnered with CI to create this facility to help to conserve this important species so that they remain in our forests now and forever as a special part of our unique biodiversity.

The PRC represents one part of the initiative to conserve pangolins in Cambodia. The FA also employs rangers to carry out forest patrols and enforce forestry law in areas known to be inhabited by pangolins. FA, in collaboration with CI, also has had a community engagement program in place for over a decade with various communities who live near the pangolin’s habitat. We are working to provide sustainable, alternative livelihoods in return for the communities’ assistance in forest and species protection.

Pangolins, or "scaly ant-eaters," are covered with protective, overlapping scales, and can quickly roll up into a tight ball when threatened. They are nocturnal and sleep in hollow trees or burrows emerging at night to forage for ants and termites, using their extraordinarily long and sticky tongue. Half of the world’s species of pangolins are found in Asia where they have been hunted heavily to very low numbers.

The Sunda pangolin, Manis javanica, is the only species found in Cambodia and is now very rare due to hunting pressures to supply the international illegal market. ‘The greatest threat to the survival of Asian pangolins in the wild is illegal hunting for meat and scales used for luxury food, tonics and traditional medicines. Hundreds and thousands of pangolins are hunted throughout the region. The price for a live pangolin is high, often more than $100 USD, and is often an irresistible incentive for poor hunters and farmers in spite of the international and national ban on hunting of this species.’ Said Mr. Ratanapich.

 

The Sunda pangolin is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and in CITES Appendix II, with a ‘zero’ trade quota, which bans all commercial trade in specimens removed from the wild. In Cambodia, the species is currently protected as a ‘Rare’ species under the Forestry Law, 2002 (MAFF Prakas 20 on Classification and List of Wildlife Species from 2007). The PRC is the second such official and formally recognized pangolin rehabilitation facility in Cambodia. The other is the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) in Siem Reap Province which has been in place for a several years, which cares for injured pangolins from the northern part of Cambodia. 

A government taskforce, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team has been created to crack down on illegal wildlife activities and trade. Wildlife is protected throughout Cambodia and it is illegal to eat, kill or sell wild animals in any way. Pangolins conservation is on the agenda of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Pangolin Specialist Group. SavePangolins is a non-profit website that serves as a resource for the general public to learn about pangolins.

 According to the Conservation International, a new facility, the Pangolin Rehabilitation Center (PRC) opened earlier in Cambodia to provide specialist care to the kingdom’s endangered pangolins. The facility was established to rehabilitate injured pangolins rescued from hunters throughout Cambodia – an increasing and serious threat to the survival of this magnificent and little known species.

Conservation in Cambodia: Through Photographers’ Eyes

Photographers Kristin Harrison and Jeremy Ginsberg from San Franscisco, USA, on their world tour last September volunteered to Conservation International (CI) to cover three projects in Cambodia through their photographs. A brief view of their work through selected photographs is covered here to present magnificent conservation efforts in Cambodia:

Tonle Sap Lake

This is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, also known as the “Great Lake” which doubles in size with the monsoon rains each year. As the lake floods, huge schools of fish thrive, providing food for millions of Cambodians. To maximize the fishing opportunities, some families live in floating villages composed of rustic, often handmade houseboats  miles from the vast lake’s shores.

Anlung Reang floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. (© Kristin Harrison & Jeremy Ginsberg)

Kristin and Jeremy spent two days visiting CI’s research station located in a floating village of a few dozen families. Traveling by longboat, they photographed fishermen, toured communities and tagged along with local researchers and collected data on the behaviors of endangered river otters. At night they slept in the open air meeting room of the CI station, where they watched the sun rise over the still, quiet lake, a serene and beautiful sight, they write.

Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area

Northern buff-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus annamensis),found in the jungles of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and southern China, face increasing threats from humans, including loss of habitat due to extensive deforestation. There are only few left in the world, and CI is working hard to protect them. In the Veun Sai-Siem Pang Conservation Area in northeastern Cambodia, Kristin and Jeremy joined CI researchers on their pre-dawn trek into the forest, where they heard a northern buffed-cheek gibbon duet — eerie and mournful. They spent a morning following five of these graceful apes, in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Mekong Turtle Conservation Center

Near Kratie, CI works with communities to protect the endangered Cantor’s giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii). Young turtles are allowed to grow safely in CI’s newly-built Mekong Turtle Conservation Center, located on the grounds of Wat Sorsor Mouy Roy, a famous Buddhist temple. The temple’s monks work at the center and educate the community, as Buddhist philosophy encourages environmental conservation.

A local boy holding a young Cantor's giant softshell turtle, Mekong Turtle Conservation Center, Cambodia. (© Kristin Harrison & Jeremy Ginsberg).

Kristine and Jeremy photographed  softshell turtles which are bizarre looking: shells are wafer thin around the edges, and soft on the top and bottom. Adults can grow to 6 feet [1.8 meters] in diameter, weigh up to 110 pounds (50 kilograms) and have a ferocious, bone-crushing bite. They joined CI staff, monks and villagers on the banks of the Mekong River to learn how turtles are released back into the wild.