SIEM REAP, Cambodia — The melodic songs from
families of endangered monkeys ring out over the jungle near Cambodia’s
Angkor Wat temple complex — a sign of ecological rejuvenation decades after hunting
decimated wildlife at the site.
اضافة اعلان
The first pair
of rare pileated gibbons were released in 2013 as part of a joint program
between conservation group Wildlife Alliance, the forestry administration, and
the Apsara Authority — a government agency that manages the 12th-century ruins.
The gibbon duo,
named Baray and Saranick, were born from parents rescued from the wildlife
trade and produced offspring a year later.
“We have now
released four different pairs of gibbons within the Angkor forest and they have
gone on to breed and now seven babies have been born,”
Wildlife Alliance rescue
and care program director Nick Marx told AFP.
“We are
restoring Cambodia’s natural heritage back into their most beautiful cultural
heritage.”
Globally,
gibbons are one of the most threatened families of primates, while the pileated
gibbon is listed as endangered.
A gibbon eating fruit in a tree in the forest at Angkor Park in Siem Reap province on July 6, 2022.
Marx says his
team rescues some 2,000 animals a year and many more will soon call the Angkor
jungle home.
There are hopes
that once the baby gibbons reach sexual maturity in about five to eight years,
they will also pair up and mate.
“What we are
hoping for the future is to create a sustainable population of the animals ...
that we released here within the amazing Angkor forest,” Marx said.
‘Big victory’
Cambodian authorities have hailed the gibbon baby boom that began in
2014.
“This means a
big victory for our project,” Chou Radina from the Apsara Authority said,
adding that as well as gibbons, tourists could now see great hornbills flying
over Angkor Wat.
The program has
released more than 40 other animals and birds including silvered langurs,
muntjac deers, smooth-coated otters, leopard cats, civets, wreathed hornbills,
and green peafowl.
All were rescued
from traffickers, donated or born in captivity at the Phnom Tamao wildlife
sanctuary near Phnom Penh.
The Angkor
Archaeological Park — which contains the ruins of various capitals of the Khmer
Empire, dating from the ninth to 15th centuries — has some of the oldest
rainforest in Cambodia.
It is also the
kingdom’s most popular tourist destination.
Gibbons eating fruit in a tree in the forest at Angkor Park in Siem Reap province on July 6, 2022.
Since Angkor Wat
became a world heritage site in 1992, its jungle, which covers more than 6,500
hectares, has benefited from increased legal and physical protections.
There are hopes
that wildlife sightings will also spark interest in local and foreign tourists
and boost conservation education efforts.
Ongoing threats
Rampant poaching, habitat loss from logging, agriculture, and dam
building has stripped much wildlife from
Cambodian rainforests.
Last year,
authorities removed 61,000 snare traps, environment ministry spokesman Neth
Pheaktra said, adding that the government had launched a campaign to discourage
hunting and eating of wildlife meat.
But widespread
poverty even before the pandemic left many households without much choice but
to continue hunting so their families could eat protein.
Animals are also
hunted for traditional medicine and to be kept as pets.
According to
Global Forest Watch, from 2001–2021 Cambodia lost 2.6 million hectares of tree
cover, a 30 percent decrease since 2000.
Commercial
interests are trumping protection efforts in some quarters — the Phnom Tamao
zoo and wildlife rescue center is under threat from a shadowy rezoning
development plan, Marx said.
Back at Siem
Reap — the gateway city to Angkor Wat — villager Moeurn Sarin shops at the
market for bananas, watermelon, rambutan, and fish to feed the pileated gibbon
families and otters.
“We are happy to
conserve these animals,” the 64-year-old said, adding he likes to watch the
gibbons’ tree swinging antics.
“In the future, these
animals will have babies for the young generation to see.”
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