The IUCN Red List, the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species, lists the giant ibis as ‘critically endangered’ with less than 200 mature creatures in existence.
Poachers put toxic carbofurans, which are normally used in pesticides to control insects, in waterholes known as trapeangs in Cambodia.
The offenders were planning to collect the dead birds in their natural habitat after the poison had been ingested.