Rescued clouded leopard cubs get a new home!

On the 21st of March, one of our Cardamom Forest Protection Programme patrol teams interrupted a poacher when they were out on patrol. They saw the poacher discard something in the forest before fleeing so they went to investigate. Imagine their surprise when they found two tiny clouded leopard cubs in a bag on the forest floor. Records indicate these are the first clouded leopard cubs we have ever rescued in over 20 years of operations, and gosh, don’t they just melt your heart? 

Read their full rescue story in this blog post.

As soon as they arrived at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, we began to think about their future prospects and realised that they would not be suitable for release after the intensive period of hand rearing. We are grateful that funding from the Behind the Scenes Tour allowed us to be able to start building a brand-new enclosure almost immediately. This purpose built enclosure was finished at the end of July and the keepers made the decision to move the cubs out of the nursery at the end of August. The cubs, now named Rachana and Reaksmey by the keepers, are thoroughly enjoying their new purpose-built enclosure.

In their large open-top enclosure, it is impressive to see their strength and agility in action. Easily climbing vertically up the tree to sit on their favourite vantage point on top of the rock. The importance of the metal sleeves on the trees is very apparent; if they could climb to the top of the trees, they could easily escape! We are very lucky at Phnom Tamao because the forest already has many beautiful rock formations, meaning we can build enclosures around them for ready-made climbing structures that are perfect for all kinds of species. 

Next steps?

We hope to initiate a breeding program and release their offspring back into the wild in the years to come. The search is already underway to find facilities to coordinate with that have some suitable males. 

Those who follow us closely know that we already have two adult clouded leopards called Evening and Popork. Find out what they are up to through our animal sponsorship program.