Wildlife Alliance

Bear smuggler busted at Phnom Penh airport

Originally Published by Phnom Penh Post

On New Year's Day, government authorities arrested an alleged RCAF soldier as he left Phnom Penh International Airport at Pochentong with a cardboard box he collected from the baggage carousel containing some unusual contraband - a baby Malaysian sun bear.

According to environmental NGO WildAid, the illegally trafficked bear cub is the eighth confiscated by Cambodia's Wildlife Rapid Response Team (WRRT) in the past ten weeks. Nick Marx, an animal husbandry specialist with WildAid, told the Post the eight bear cubs probably represent "only the tip of the iceberg" of those being smuggled. Marx said it is breeding season for bears now, which may explain the increase in bear cub confiscations.

Officials for the San Francisco-based NGO WildAid said the WRRT received information from an informant that an RCAF district commander in Ratanakkiri had obtained the cub. WRRT began a surveillance of a house and, on December 31, saw the bear moved to a wildlife trader's house. The following day, the cub was boarded in a cardboard box and sent unaccompanied on a plane from Banlung to Phnom Penh.

The WRRT contacted members of their unit in Phnom Penh and undercover agents waited inside Ponchentong airport for someone to pick up the bear. When the man collected the box from the baggage carousel he was followed by plain-clothed WRRT officers who arrested him outside the airport grounds.

During the course of a long interrogation by the Forest Administration, the man admitted he was a soldier and said he had bought the bear for US$500. Ultimately, the soldier was freed, as he could not legally be held longer than two days.

According to Marx, getting prosecutions for wildlife crime in Cambodia is difficult.

"Our hope is that this event will go through the courts and that the soldier will either be fined or, depending on the gravity, sent to prison," Marx told the Post.

According to Article 90 of the Forestry Law, the offender, if proven to be a soldier, would be subject to both criminal and military administrative proceedings if found guilty.

The WRRT was established in 2001 as an elite unit assigned to eradicate Cambodia's illegal wildlife trade. The group is a specially trained mobile unit made up of personnel from the Department of Forestry and Wildlife, the Royal Gendarmerie, and officials from WildAid. Until recently, the WRRT was known as the Wilderness Protection Mobile Unit.

Officials said that in its initial 18 months of operation the WRRT apprehended 239 wildlife traders, rescued more than 10,000 wild animals and confiscated 1.3 tons of fresh meat and two tons of dried wildlife parts.

Because Cambodia is home to some of the world's most sought after species, it has become a major location for the wildlife trade.

The penalties for wildlife crimes in Cambodia are not heavy, Marx said, but wildlife groups are pushing for tougher laws and stricter enforcement. He says there have not been many prosecutions for wildlife crimes, but hopes that this case could serve as a deterrent to others.

"There need to be examples," he said. "People need to know that they are breaking the law. If they don't know, they won't stop."

The baby bear - now named Dimanche, or "Sunday" in French - was turned over by the authorities to Free the Bears, an Australian NGO responsible for looking after the 66 bears living in Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center. Free the Bears will feed and house Dimanche and four other sun bear cubs until they are big enough to be introduced to an enclosure at Phnom Tamao. Three other cubs, including an Asiatic black bear, were recently transferred.

Malaysian sun bears are indigenous to Southeast Asia and are the smallest species of bear; an adult male averages 70kg. According to Marx, they are not endangered, but there is no estimate of their population. They have a broad range and are not particularly numerous anywhere.

Had the cubs not been confiscated, they probably would have been sold as pets or, more likely, to bear farms in neighboring countries. There, they would have been milked for their bile, a traditional medicine. Some might even have ended up on the menu at a restaurant.

Although the cubs are lucky to have escaped such a fate, wildlife experts say the estrangement from their natural habitat is extremely unfortunate. Yet, Marx says, Dimanche and the other cubs will help highlight the cruelties of the illegal wildlife trade and help those trying to bring about its end.

*Notice*

At the time of publication of this (article/press release), Wildlife Alliance was known as WildAid. The organization changed its name in 2007, retaining the same field programs and key personnel.