Global extinction looming for Indochina's primates

[Guest guest]

DEY AMBIL, Cambodia (June 3, 2001) - Within eyesight of a sign urging

" Don't sell wildlife, " a roadside vendor is peddling four slow lorises -

little primates with sad luminous eyes - to be burned alive and churned

into Chinese medicines.

 

A gibbon, says Sem Sovan, can be ordered for $200 and delivered while

customers wait at his ramshackle hut, squirming with snakes, mynah

birds and other illegal " products " from nearby Kirirom National Park.

 

Once an Eden for primates, Cambodia along with neighboring Vietnam and

Laos, are being rapidly emptied of these creatures by meat poachers,

traditional medicine merchants and villagers encroaching on their

ranges.

 

Full story

http://nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/19902p-371467c.html

[Guest guest]

This is true. In April I saw loris for sale, both alive and dead, in

Cambodia. Still, from what I see its partly an economic issue. How can you

expect someone with an annual income of US$150 to turn down such a windfall?

The forest has traditionally been there for the people to use, and with 85%

of the population living in small communities located near or in the forest,

it can't be made off limits.

 

The tiger conservation project in Cambodia that I looked at is interesting.

It takes ex-hunters and pays them to patrol, using GPS and turning in data

sheets. Yes, some snags--how do you know the ex-poachers aren't killing and

selling on the side? They have a contract which spells out their job,

swears them off hunting, and they sign their thumb prints. They get

US$50/month, a huge sum, and part of that has to go towards their own

capacity building, such as --housing, crops, etc. Its run by a

Cambodian--the Deputy Director of Wildlife; he's just got his masters from

the University of Minnesota and is extremely committed to Cambodia. His

thesis was an analysis of tiger trade. He went under cover, posing as a

buyer, trader, etc.

 

Like many countries, Cambodia is plagued by corruption and graft; this

applied to conservation as well. Pay-offs are common. Again, how can you

expect a government official taking home US$20/month to turn down a bribe

for looking the other way?

 

________________________

DEY AMBIL, Cambodia (June 3, 2001) - Within eyesight of a sign urging

" Don't sell wildlife, " a roadside vendor is peddling four slow lorises -

little primates with sad luminous eyes - to be burned alive and churned

into Chinese medicines.

 

A gibbon, says Sem Sovan, can be ordered for $200 and delivered while

customers wait at his ramshackle hut, squirming with snakes, mynah

birds and other illegal " products " from nearby Kirirom National Park.

 

Once an Eden for primates, Cambodia along with neighboring Vietnam and

Laos, are being rapidly emptied of these creatures by meat poachers,

traditional medicine merchants and villagers encroaching on their

ranges.

 

Full story

http://nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/19902p-371467c.html

 

 

 

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