nd said Thursday in what it called an encouraging sign for the highly endangered animal. The big cat’s picture was snapped recently when it tripped a camera trap set up by biologists working with local forest rangers.
“They are very secretive creatures and incredibly difficult to see, even with the best guides,” said Nick Cox of the WWF’s Greater Mekong office.
“But in the Srepok Wilderness Area of the Mondulkiri protected forest in northeastern Cambodia, our rangers have had recent encounters with leopards that would make big cat biologists green with envy,” he added in a statement posted on the WWF’s Web site.
Leopards will only reproduce under the right conditions and the photographs provide an initial sign of a healthy ecosystem, the WWF said.
The Srepok Wilderness Area Project (SWAP), a partnership between the WWF and Cambodian government, brings conservation efforts to a part of the country where relatively unscathed forests are threatened by illegal logging, clear-cutting for agriculture and the animal trade.
The area was largely unprotected until the WWF began working there in 2002. Since then, the group has tried to integrate local communities into their projects.
“The project partners are aware that conservation in a country as poor as Cambodia will only succeed if local people continue to benefit economically from the Mekong River and its surrounding forests,” the WWF said.
The trade in endangered wildlife flourishes in Cambodia, fueled by corrupt authorities and weak legislation.
Most of the trafficked animals feed the regional demand for exotic pets or traditional medicines.
(Related story on Page 7)
Terms of use