A banteng injured by a snare in Kampong Speu died on Tuesday despite the local community’s attempts to save it, according to a local community leader.

Rangers from Trapang Kreunh village in Bram Beymom commune found the endangered species of wild cattle with string from the broken nylon trap still attached to its nearly severed leg last Saturday, community forest chief Soeun Lay said.

Fearing the hunters would return, about 20 villagers monitored the animal until Monday when it collapsed, Lay said“We managed to catch it and took it more than 20km away on a mini tractor to our village.”Lay said the villagers called a vet but the animal died in the meantime.

The community and local authority agreed to sell the dead banteng for $300, which would be used to build a community outpost, he added.

Sarah Brook, a technical adviser with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said Cambodia had one of the most important banteng populations in the world, as they have largely disappeared in neighbouring countries.

In a separate case, a gaur was shot by border soldiers, said rangers in Mondulkiri’s Koh Nhek district, who found the recently killed remains of the native bison yesterday.

A complaint was being prepared against the suspects – four border soldiers and a villager spotted drying the meat and head from the animal, said World Wildlife Fund Cambodia spokesman Un Chakrey.

Additional reporting by Igor Kossov