Cambodia's tarantula hunters

[geovalin]

Svay Leur, Cambodia - Deep in the jungle, Rith spends hours each day hunting tarantulas, which he sells to restaurants near Siem Reap, home of the world-famous Angkor Wat temple.

Rith receives 500 riels (12 cents) from local customers for each hairy spider.

Far from being a new phenomenon, hunting spiders for food and for traditional medicine has taken place in Cambodia for generations. However, eating spiders became widespread in the mid-1970s, when starvation brought on by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime left people with little other options for survival.

Starvation, along with executions and overwork, resulted in the death of about two million people from 1975-79.

Despite this grim history, spiders are considered to be a delicacy today and sold in markets and restaurants across Cambodia.

While tarantulas are reportedly eaten in Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and parts of India and Venezuela, their widespread popularity in Cambodia is unique. In addition to being rich in protein, folic acid and zinc, they are believed to have medicinal properties.

However, heavy deforestation throughout the country may mean an end to this practice - and tarantulas themselves.

View As Slideshow >>

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

Rith, a spider hunter from a small village in Svay Leur, searches for spider nests in the middle of the jungle of Cambodia.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

Rith digs in a spider nest.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

Rith plays with a live spider.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A spider seller in Skun Market holds a bucket filled with live tarantulas.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A spider seller in Skun Market selects spiders from a bucket filled with live tarantulas.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

Spider sellers select spiders to be sold in markets across Cambodia.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A spider hunter kills a tarantula by pressing on its abdomen.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A restaurant chef cooks a tarantula in his restaurant.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A restaurant patron eats a tarantula in a restaurant in Svay Leur.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A young spider seller holds a tray filled with cooked tarantuals in the Skun spider Market.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A young girl plays with tarantulas she has as pets in her shop near the Skun spider market.

/Omar Havana/Al Jazeera

A group of young children play with a tarantula they have as a pet in their home.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/12/cambodia-tarantula-hunters-2014122513421714343.html