'Dinner' returned to the wild
2002-01-27 10:49
Phnom Penh, Cambodia - A menagerie of wild animals destined to become nearly half a ton
of meat on restaurant plates have found their way back to the wild
after being rescued from traders, Cambodian officials said on Sunday.
Wildlife officers confiscated a total of 448 kilogrammes of turtles, pythons, cobras, monkeys and birds during raids
last Tuesday, said conservation official Dy Sokhom.
They raided two private rice warehouses in Kampong Thom
province, 130 kilometres north of the capital Phnom
Penh, after receiving a tip that wild animals were being kept
there, he said.
"We began searching those warehouses just about an hour before
the animals were supposed to be taken to Vietnam. They placed them
in boxes and were ready to load them on trucks," said Capt. Eng
Peotith, a military policeman assigned to Cambodia's Wilderness
Protection Unit.
The animals were released into the wild two days after their
rescue.
Owners of the warehouses were only warned to stop illegal
trading in wildlife. They received no punishment since Cambodia
still does not have a law for prosecuting such offenders, Eng
Poetith said.
Despite repeated crackdowns by authorities, the absence of legal
sanctions has meant that traders have little to fear in buying and
selling wild animals.
Cambodian restaurants offer a variety of wild meat dishes, which
like in many Asian countries are believed to enhance sexual
virility and cure various ailments.
Conservationists have sounded alarms about the increasing danger
that catchers and traders are posing to Cambodia's once abundant
wildlife and are calling for urgent adoption of a law to protect
it.
More than 225 animals regarded as endangered, including
elephants, tigers and sun bears, were killed in Cambodia during an
18-month period ending last October, according to a report compiled
by Cat Action Treasury, a US-based nonprofit conservation group.
- Sapa-AP
- SAPA