Volume 10, Number 13 Phnom Penh, June 22-July 5, 2001

Wildlife bonanza in Northeast

Where buffaloes roam: The first photo of Cambodia's endangered wild asian buffalo.

By Michael Hayes

A camera trapping survey in a remote corner of Mondulkiri province has confirmed the existence of a variety of previously undocumented and extremely endangered wildlife, according to the government and conservationists.

Of global importance is a picture taken of an elusive wild asian buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), a species the existence of which from hoofprint sightings had been reported by hunters for years but which nobody has actually seen first hand.

"I think the most important [find] is the wild water buffalo," said Sun Hean of the RGC's Wildlife Protection Office (WPO). "[Existing] documents did not recognize that Cambodia has this animal. This is a new confirmed species for Cambodia."

The asian buffalo is considered "highly endangered" by conservationists and was known only to exist in parts of India and along the Thai-Burmese border.

Photos have also been taken for the first time of wild elephants in their native habitat, as well as pictures of a leopard, asian wild dogs, bantengs and a green pea fowl.

ANOTHER FIRST: A wild elephant family group on the move in Mondulkiri.

The presence of wild asian dogs, which prey on mammals, in Mondulkiri indicates significant animal populations.

The discovery of the asian buffalo means that the area in northeast Mondulkiri south of the Srepok River just next to the Vietnamese border is now known to contain three kinds of wild cattle, including bantengs and gaurs, with debate still open on whether the kouprey is extinct or not.

"It's the best wild cattle place on the face of the earth," says Hunter Weiler of the Cat Action Treasury which helped organize the expedition with WPO and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Wildlife specialists note that the buffalo may have once been domesticated or of a mixed breed, but that this doesn't detract from the find.

"It's very, very big, regardless of the fact that they could have interbred with domestic cattle," says Joe Walston, WCS' Biodiversity and Forestry Specialist. "This find puts Cambodia back on the map in terms of importance for wild cattle populations."

An eight-person, all-Cambodian team of rangers and mammal specialists spent four days on foot in May setting up eight camera traps near salt licks and other areas where wildlife were known to frequent. The cameras are activated automatically by sensing devices that detect movement. A month later the team went back in to retrieve the film which was brought back to Phnom Penh on June 11.

Expatriates applaud the Cambodians for their initiative and professionalism."They went in with all the surgical precision of a commando raid," says Weiler on the success of the expedition. "The buffalo is the cherry..."

However, grave concerns are held over the survivability of the wildlife.
Sources say that because of the recent influx of Montagnard refugees from Vietnam the government has introduced armed military units into the area to patrol the border. It is believed that as many as 100 soldiers have been stationed at Mereuch on the Srepok River just north of the area where the photos were taken.

These units pose "potentially the most serious threat" to the wildlife, according to Walston. "They are allowed or [even] encouraged to hunt," he says, noting that underpaid "armed and mobile" soldiers patrolling in remote jungle areas would have little choice but to hunt for food.

Men So Riyun, one of the team members provided by WCS said that while illegal poaching appears to have declined in the last two years "the situation has changed" because of the Montagnards.

WPO's Sun Hean is well aware of the immediate threat to the wildlife and says that his department is in the process of seeking Council of Ministers support to request RCAF to instruct soldiers not to hunt. Sources say the military has already expressed its willingness to help, but in the wild scrub forests near Phnom Yang Ke it may be difficult to control hungry militia who are two days walk from the nearest village.

Longer term, the government has a plan to turn a huge swath of mostly uninhabited jungle, including the buffalo's estimated habitat and that of possibly 50 wild elephants, into a "protected forest". The area, comprising 471,175 hectares, runs from the Srepok River in the north, along the border with Vietnam southwards, encompassing a block roughly 40 km wide by 100 km long . The plan entails cancelling two logging concessions, although full government approval has yet to be received.

This week the WPO asked the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) for $827,000 for a two-year project to strengthen wildlife management and conservation systems in the area, and develop increased co-operation between Cambodia and Vietnam to protect wildlife.

In the meantime, according to Hean, one of the next steps is to get back in the bush, collect some buffalo dung and run it through a DNA analysis to see just how wild the discovery really is.

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 10/13, June 22 - July 5, 2001
© Michael Hayes, 2001. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.PhnomPenhPost.com - Any comments on the website to Webmaster