Last month on this blog we were celebrating camera footage of a wild herd of elephants in Mondulkiri. Tragically on Monday an 18-month-old wild baby elephant has died in Cambodia’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri Province. It’s front left leg was trapped in a hunter’s snare. The baby elephant was in urgent need of veterinary care but due to the remote location, help was too far away.
Although it is unlikely that the snare was meant to trap elephants, the problem with snares is that they pose an immediate danger to all types of wildlife. Snares are illegal in the 292,690-hectare Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary but only 16 rangers patrol the area. This means it is impossible to remove even a small percentage of snares that have been set.
“This incident again highlights the need to increase efforts to reduce snaring, as the loss of one elephant is a major loss for the globally endangered Asian elephant,” said Un Chakrey of the World WildLife Foundation in Cambodia, who said the use of snares had only increased despite law enforcement efforts.
This extremely sad event again raises concerns over the ability of local authorities to protect endangered elephants in Cambodia.
For more information, click below:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/baby-elephant-killed-snare-mondulkiri
