Posted on February, 24 2017

The WWF-Cambodia Law Enforcement efforts this quarter, at the Sraepok Wildlife Sanctuary consisted of 65 guards patrolling for a time period of 128 days. They covered 2688 kilometres by walk, vehicle and boats.
 
They created over 64 roadblocks to prevent entry into protected areas that have the key hot spots such as the core zone and the conservation zone, along the Cambodia-Vietnam border.
 
In this period, our WWF rangers removed 119 snares, destroyed 20 illegal camps, confiscated 51 longs and 7 cubic meters of timber, 70 kgs of dead animals and rescued 8 alive animals, sent 1 offender to jail. Additionally, we confiscated 6 motorbikes and 2 machine carts.
 

Case studies:

 
The rangers from our Namram outpost set out on their patrol plan on the 27^th of October. They headed towards the protected zone of Trapeang Ten. Our team had pitched a camp for a few days in order to block paths into the forest and remove snares that trap animals.
 
During this patrol mission, they conducted a random check on a passing motorbike and seized 4 water monitor lizards that were being smuggled. They confiscated these live animals, issued a letter of warning against poaching and released the Water Monitors into the forest.

In the early hours of 27^th October 2016, WWF’s  attentive guards found out about suspicious activities occurring at the Namram outpost. At 3 am, they conducted checks and stopped 3 motorbikes that were passing by. The bikes were smuggling 37 lumbers of Sokrom. The deputy manager confiscated the bikes and fined them 200, 000 riels. The offenders are said to be from Dei Ey Village, Dei Ey Commune, Koh Neak District, Mondulkiri Province.
 
In November, our team of rangers decided to concentrate their efforts on the road heading to Trapeang Chhouk outpost. The aim was to ensure a check on all wildlife crimes that occur along the road, especially from the village into the core zone of the protected area. In one of their patrols, they found three motorbikes parked at the side of the road without drivers. Upon investigation they realized that there were 4 dead wild pigs strapped to the bikes and the drivers (fearing capture) abandoned their bikes and fled.
 
They documented the instance, confiscated the bikes and destroyed the carcass of the wild pigs. Such activity can often be disheartening. There is no lack of food sources for us humans. In order to protect our nature and resources, we do have the options to shift to other domestic animals as sources of food. By hunting wild animals, we threaten their species as well as other animals and ecosystems dependent on them.