January 2012 Newsletter
Elephant Comes Out on the Road
As we have reported previously on our website, elephants have increasingly been wandering out of the jungle onto roads and villages as the forest shrinks around them. Since October, the number of human-elephant encounters has risen dramatically and it has now become an almost daily responsibility for our forest patrol teams to follow-up on reports of elephant sightings and protect both the elephants and villagers in the area.
On January 6, 2012, the station supervisor at the Stung Proat Station received a phone call from a hunter from Chi Phat that a large male elephant was on the sugar cane plantation road and that he had been forced to seek refuge high in a tree. The patrollers arrived on the scene and helped the man down and sent him on his way while keeping the elephant, who was actually very calm and docile, at bay.
For the next 11 days, it was necessary for the rangers to do crowd control on the road as the elephant continued to appear there each afternoon and stay until sunrise the next morning. For the first 9 days, the situation was very tense as workers driving past in trucks would throw things or shout at the elephant which would irritate him and cause him charge after the trucks. Nothing seemed to scare him off, not fire or gun shots, and the elephant remained on the road.
By the 10th day, when the elephant appeared again, he seemed exhausted and was missing a piece of his left tusk. He became even more aggressive with passing workers. When several workers came directly at him with tractors, it appeared the situation had become untenable. In response, CEO Suwanna Gauntlett was called in to reach out the general manager of the sugar plantation and ask for urgent intervention with his workers. After negotiations with the GM, the workers calmed down but did not entirely stop provoking the elephant.
When the patrol team returned to the road again on Day 12, the elephant did not return and he has not returned since. Footprints have been spotted further into the forest and at this point it is assumed that he has found another, more densely forested spot to spend his days. However, we continue to investigate further.
Elephants have not been seen in the open for the last 10 years, despite confirmations through footprints and dung that a population of around 200 individuals exists in the forest. While poaching has been under control since 2002 due to the direct action of Wildlife Alliance, deforestation continues to be a challenge to the lives of these elephants. Today, the southern tip of the elephant corridor is being aggressively cleared, pushing elephants out of the forest and causing this increase in elephant sightings.
We have had to adapt quickly to insure the safety of the elephants. Without constant intervention by our forest rangers, it’s hard to say what will happen during these human-elephant encounters. And without your help, we can’t guarantee that our rangers will always be available to intercede during these tense situations. Our patrol teams are already stretched thin as they combat wildlife poaching and illegal logging throughout the forest area. The forest in the Southern Cardamoms exists solely because of the protection provided by Wildlife Alliance and we are able to do that only with your support. Click here to help these elephants and combat the deforestation that is destroying their habitat.
Wildlife Traffickers Pay the Price
Follow-up on a Bust from June
Ever wonder what happens after the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team catches a wildlife trafficker in the act? This month, a case that the WRRT submitted to the court system went to trial and concluded successfully, reflecting well on their hard work and taking another step in insuring the safety of Cambodia’s endangered species.
On June 29, 2011, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team responded to a tip from an informant in Battambang
Province and busted a wildlife trader with 7 Sunda Pangolins on a bus headed to Phnom Penh. The offender, a 49 year old man, was arrested and charged with illegal trafficking of rare wildlife according to Cambodian Forestry Law. To see our original reporting on this story, click here.
In his confession, he told officials that he was hired by a wildlife trader in Battambang Province to bring the 7 pangolins to Phnom Penh where another trader would be waiting to receive them. Since he was caught en route, the other two traders remain at large. He was sent into custody in Phnom Penh on July 1, 2011.
The case finally came to trial on December 9, 2011. The present offender and his two accomplices were tried, the latter two in absentia. WRRT Forestry Administration Team Leader, Prom Nol, was summoned to attend the hearing. As a result of the trial, all three offenders were found guilty and sentenced to 1 
year in prison.
After a successful bust, six months of processing, and the trial, the hard work of the WRRT paid off as the offender was sent to jail. Cases such as these do not always result in jail time, often times the offenders are just handed a fine and they can continue on with their activities. Seeing this offender serve time will serve as a lesson to all wildlife traders in Cambodia that trafficking is a serious crime with a serious penalty. It is thanks to the continued efforts of our Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team that this offender and so many others pay the price for their crimes!
Species Spotlight: Indochinese Tiger
The Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti), native to a range of Southeast Asia stretching from Myanmar to Vietnam, is regarded as the ancestral tiger from which other tiger sub-species descended some 72,000-100,000 years ago. Their stripes are very narrow compared to other species and the orange of their fur more vibrant. Despite the efforts of many conservation organizations, the current wild population of Indochinese Tigers is believed to be no more than a few isolated individuals. Current estimates from Cambodia’s Forestry Administration put the wild tiger numbers within Cambodia at less than 20, indicating there is no longer a viable breeding population within the country.
In 2002, Wildlife Alliance responded to the crisis threatening to destroy Cambodia’s largest tiger range, the Cardamom Mountains, when a newly constructed freeway sliced through 100 km of rainforest, bringing with it the commercial tiger trade and industrial deforestation. Twelve tigers were reported killed in the 18 months preceding Wildlife Alliance’s intervention. Between 2003 and 2006, the work of Wildlife Alliance reduced tiger killings by 50%. However, no evidence of tigers has been found since 2007.
With the likely inability to breed because of the small population, coupled with deforestation, poaching, and the needs of a growing human population, the Indochinese Tiger in Cambodia is at serious risk of disappearing for good. Wildlife Alliance plans to instigate a plan to save the Indochinese Tiger in Cambodia that will focus on two integrated initiatives to protect the habitat and prey base and set the stage for an eventual conservation breeding and rewilding program. Stayed tuned during 2012 as we launch our plan to save the Indochinese Tiger!
Plant a Forest in 2012!
Our Reforestation program aims to plant 1.9 million trees in an effort to reconnect fragmented rainforest in the Southern Cardamom Mountain Range. Creating this continuous forest cover preserves the watershed for this region and protects large mammal ranges. In 2012, 400,000 trees over 425 hectares of forestland is due to be planted and the 500 hectares we’ve already planted will be maintained as the trees mature from seedlings to major forest growth. Members of the local community work in our Million Tree Nursery collecting seeds, preparing and cultivating seedlings, and then when the time is right, head out to the planting fields and plant trees over formerly destroyed, but newly enriched, forestland. But we need the support of donors like you to realize these goals. Watch the video below to see how we are working to regrow forests in the tropical belt and how you can help!
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:53PM 
Reader Comments (6)
It is the governments of the countries that need to be brought to the table. They need to enforce the laws against deforestation and they need to assess stiffer penalties. One year in jail isn't going to cut it. The law breakers need to spend at least 10 years in jail. Make the punishment a deterrent to the law breakers.
the increase in human-elephant 'conflict' in the region is saddening - how far we, humans as a whole, are from being able to encounter 'others' without fear! for fear is what sparks conflict. but, on the whole, the program for the year as laid out above is full of hope - here's to a fantastic year of positive action on behalf of wildlife alliance!
No not the government, if it was and they don't do anything then what? Leave them alone?
Now it is our responsibility to help anyway we can
I hope that my plantation in LOVE project between the survivors of the Khmer rouge regime and former soldiers Khmer rouge could participate in your project.
It is hoped that Cambodian government will totally agree with this idea and provide a place related to Khmer rouge regime such as cooperative sites, executive sites, security centers and necessary area in Cambodia to plant the trees as much as possible. The nature (the tree) will become a memory of the Khmer rouge past.
In the next 30 years, the next generation still remember these atrocities.
Do you agree?
Great to see some prosecutions taking place for wildlife trafficking crimes! It happens so little and the deterrent effect of prosecution is important to communicate. Congratulations to all involved.
There are many cases i heard now a days about wildlife entering in the roadside, its really need to check out why is this happening so often.