Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Rare gaur found dead in national park

Rare gaur found dead in national park

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Offenders (not in picture) cut off a long strip of flesh from the gaur and took both horns from its head. Environment Ministry

Rare gaur found dead in national park

Rangers from O’Som headquarters in the South Cardamom Mountains National Park and Wildlife Alliance officials found meat which came from a rare gaur in the Phnom Kravanh section of the park in Pursat province, said a ranger on Wednesday.

O’Som headquarters patrol team leader Vay Sarim told The Post on Wednesday that his working group patrolled the forest for two days with environment rangers from Wildlife Alliance.

During the patrol, they found the meat in O’Som commune’s Chhay Louk village in Veal Veng district.

“Offenders cut off a long strip of meat from the gaur and took both horns from its head. Suspects left behind samples of meat, skin, skeleton, head, shins and internal parts. The items weighed 280 kg.

“We found traps made of bicycle brake cables attached to the gaur’s shins. It can be confirmed that the gaur was trapped by illegal hunters,” Sarim said.

He said the joint patrol force collected the meat and set it on fire at the scene. Now the rangers were searching for the identities of offenders to take legal action against them.

This was the second gaur that has been found killed over the last two months. In May, Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary rangers found samples of a gaur about five years old. The gaur had been killed and its head was left behind at the wildlife sanctuary in Preah Vihear province.

Gaurs are a rare, threatened species. They were listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in 1986. As of 2016, an estimated 21,000 gaurs live in India and Southeast Asia.

The number of gaurs has declined remarkably because of losses of shelter and poaching. Gaurs are mentioned in the first annexe of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which regulates wildlife trade to ensure the survival of endangered species.

Ministry of Environment secretary of state and spokesman Neth Pheaktra called on all people to refrain from consuming wild animal meat. He told them not to believe that consuming it brings good health.

Pheaktra also expressed deep regret at the loss of the gaur and condemned the offenders for setting the trap. He also requested people to help the authorities identify the offenders which would allow police to take legal action.

“Snares and home-made rifles are hidden killers that wipe out wild animals every day. It is necessary to strengthen [patrols] and prevent poaching. These [hunting] tools have to be prohibited from going into natural protected areas,” he stressed.

Pheaktra said more than 10,000 snares had been removed from natural protected areas and more than 300 home-made rifles were seized in the first four months of this year.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on