This 18-month-old lion had his teeth ripped out, claws painfully removed, and lived a sad life as a captive prisoner in the dense city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia by an owner that wanted him as a pet. In this viral video, you can see the lion pacing in a small backyard. After the video gained […]
Tag: cambodia
Cambodia: Development threatens a last refuge of wildlife rescued from illegal trade (commentary)
For over 20 years the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC), run by the Cambodian Forestry Administration and supported by the international NGOs Wildlife Alliance and Free the Bears (covered by Asia Sentinel in 2018) has served as the only place in Cambodia which will take all species of wildlife confiscated from poachers and the […]
The Mekong’s fewer than 90 Irrawaddy dolphins at risk of slow and inexorable extinction
Known only by his identity code, ID#35 was the last individual of a doomed subpopulation of freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris). He was the sole occupant of a deep pool in the Mekong River that spans the border between Cambodia and Laos, and fought for several weeks against lacerations to his tail from entanglement in […]
Thousands of elephants in Asia ‘beaten into fear and submission’ for tourists
Scrubbing behind the ears of a docile Asian elephant at a sanctuary outside of Kandy, Sri Lanka, I should have realised this wasn’t normal behaviour for a wild animal to allow me so close. At the time, back in 2009 and thousands of miles from home, it seemed harmless. I was also told the experience […]
‘They never intended to conserve it’: Outcry as loggers gut Cambodian reserve
In late February, conservationist Kheng Khou tried to enter Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, which he routinely patrols with other members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN). Instead, he and his colleagues were denied access and threatened with arrest. Local authorities told them they couldn’t enter because they didn’t have permission from the Cambodian Ministry […]
Poachers kill 3 near-extinct giant ibises amid pandemic pressure in Cambodia
The giant Ibis, a mega-sized bird that can stand more than a meter (3 feet) tall and weigh more than 4 kilograms (9 pounds), was once thought to be extinct in Cambodia. But in 1993, scientists working with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) rediscovered the birds on the border with Laos, and since then, a […]
Cambodia’s banteng-eating leopards edge closer to extinction, new study finds
For Cambodia’s last remaining Indochinese leopards (Panthera pardus delacouri), extinction could be just around the corner, a new study has found. The only breeding population of this leopard subspeciesin Cambodia is believed to occur within a large protected area complex in a part of the country called the Eastern Plains Landscape (EPL). But in just five […]
POLL: Should Asia’s elephant tourism be banned?
Businesses in Asia have often justified so-called elephant tourism by arguing that the industry benefits elephants and helps safeguard this endangered animal. But new research shows that elephant tourism is actually rife with cruelty. The survey, conducted by internationally recognized animal welfare group World Animal Protection, found that three out of every four elephants recorded […]