Python-Packed Cars Seized in Cambodia

Stefan Lovgren, National Geographic News 24 Nov 08;

Two wildlife smugglers transporting hundreds of live turtles and pythons jammed into the backs of cars have been arrested by Cambodian officials.

The drivers were apparently heading to neighboring Vietnam to sell the animals—many of them rare—to the region's illegal wildlife markets.

The November 9 seizure by a special Cambodian government task force comes on the heels of two other raids on wildlife smugglers in Malaysia.

Cambodia has long been considered a hot spot in the booming illegal wildlife trade, with many of its animals regularly siphoned off to Vietnam and on to China to be eaten or used in traditional medicine.

But large wildlife seizures such as the one in November may signal a positive shift in Cambodia's fight against traders, said Nick Marx, the Cambodia Wildlife Rescue Director for the conservation group Wildlife Alliance.

Animals are being rescued there every week, and larger busts may happen once or twice a month, Marx said.

Reptile Loot

The smugglers were stopped in Kâmpóng Chhnǎng Province in central Cambodia while heading east toward Vietnam.

In the two vehicles' trunks, officials found 1,069 pounds (485 kilograms) of live wildlife, including three species of turtles—yellow-headed temple turtles, Malayan snail-eating turtles, and Asiatic softshell turtles—that are listed as either endangered or vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

Slow-growing turtles are particularly vulnerable to poaching, experts say, and wildlife traders can wipe out entire populations in a river or lake with one shipment.

The loot also included king cobras, reticulated pythons, and Burmese pythons.

The animals were packed into bags and metal tins and kept on blocks of ice to prevent them from overheating.

The smugglers, two Cambodian men in their late 20s, were arrested by authorities.

The animals, thought to have come from protected areas in Battambang Province in western Cambodia, were released into a protected area near Tonle Sap Lake in the country's central region, according to Wildlife Alliance.

Informant Network

Before the most recent bust, task force officials were tipped off about two Toyotas loaded with wildlife.

The government task force—called the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team—relies on a countrywide network of informants, who alert them to potential smuggling activities.

"When we receive information, we have to react extremely quickly," Marx said.

"Animals are often in transit, and if we don't reach them before they reach the border we're not able to rescue them."

The Wildlife Alliance-backed group of eight military police and four forestry officials has rescued some 32,000 animals in Cambodia since the task force was set up in 2001.

Big-Market Business

Though still traditionally accepted in Cambodia, wild meat consumption has declined dramatically in the country in recent years.

"A lot of the traders that used to sell wildlife meat [to Cambodians] have stopped," Marx said.

But the Southeast Asian country remains an important source of animals for the regional wildlife trade, and traders operating there are becoming increasingly sophisticated, conservationists say.

"It's a professional, big-market business run by people who know what they're sourcing and know where they're selling it," said Colin Poole, director of the Asia program for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

With a 12-person task force to cover a country the size of the U.S. state of Missouri, smugglers often manage to escape into neighboring countries, using tricks such as switching cars to avoid detection.

Cambodia is also part of the Association of Southeast Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network, or ASEAN-WEN, which was formed in 2005 to combat the illegal wildlife trade.

But Cambodia has had little involvement with the network so far, according to Marx of Wildlife Alliance.

"This is a regional problem, and so we need to be addressing it on a more regional basis," he said.

"A stronger connection with ASEAN-WEN … [would] be a big step forward, as it will mean that traders can still be arrested and animals rescued even after they leave the country."