Forest-Patrol Monks Warn of Increased Wildlife Poaching This Year

Patrollers in an Oddar Meanchey community forest say they’re witnessing an increased rate of wild cattle and deer deaths in the first months of this year, compared to last year, with one patroller attributing the rise in poaching to out-of-work people and poor law enforcement.

Tho Thoross, a monk in charge of the protected area, also known as Sorng Rukhavorn Wildlife Sanctuary, told VOD on Friday that patrollers found three banteng, or Bos javanicus, and one red muntjac — a small deer known for its barking calls — dead in traps of branches and ropes in late March.

Patrollers also found one wild boar, or Sus scrofa, and one Cervus unicolor, commonly called sambar deer, alive in separate traps, and turned the rescued animals over to Wildlife Alliance. They are now in Phnom Tamao zoo, he said. Thoross warned there seemed to be an increase in wild animal trap deaths and injuries, saying that patrols found a total nine animals dead for the whole of 2021 — three banteng and six sambar deer — compared to six animals in just three months this year.