Officials Burn Decaying Poached Animal Parts

Wildlife officials burned decomposing animal parts at the Takeo province zoo last week to destroy the rotting meat and bones of illegally poached wildlife seized from markets across the country in a re­cent sweep, forestry officials said.

Endangered species that had not reached the decomposition stage were stored at the Phnom Tamao Zoo. Wildlife parts sold in traditional stores, not markets, have not been confiscated but officials are considering seizing the illegal goods, said Men Phymean, director of the Forestry Depart­ment’s Wildlife Protection Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Kampot province authorities in December confiscated nine turtles, two tortoises and three py­thons from a car allegedly bound for Vietnam. The animals were re­leased into the jungle. The provincial fisheries department released to the ocean a 60-kg sea turtle accidentally caught by a fisherman.

In efforts to implement forestry laws passed in June 2002, the Forestry Department last week proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife train about 200 forestry officials in legal procedures at the Ministry of Justice. Provincial officials ac­knowledged that poaching wild animals remains a problem.  Illegal hunting has declined, however, due to anti-poaching operations, officials said.

Kompong Speu Second Dep­uty Governor Phauk Sam En said conservation efforts have cut poaching by up to 90 percent in his province. He admitted that some hunters still caught wild boars, a popular meat seen hanging in stalls along National Route 4 in past years.

Conservation officials reported that at least eight elephants were slaughtered in the past two months in the Cardamom mountains. Animals caught in Cam­bodia often head to China, one of the country’s biggest wildlife export markets.

Turtles, snakes and tiger parts gathered in the provinces often are shipped into Vietnam and then on to China, officials said, making the northeast province a smuggling gateway.

Parliamentarians approved in July a new chapter in a bill aimed to conserve Cambodia’s declining wildlife population. Chapter 10 of the forestry law declares that “all wildlife in Cambodia” are property of the state, making it illegal to hunt animals.