APRIL 30,
2019
First,
the good news. Footage from the 46 camera traps deployed by Fauna & Flora
International (FFI) in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains is giving us a privileged
insight into the lives of the Asian elephants that roam through in one of the
continent's last remaining forest wildernesses.
Genetic
analysis of elephant dung undertaken by our partner, Royal Zoological Society
of Scotland, leads us to believe that the core population in the southern
Cardamoms comprises around 50 elephants. And our camera traps have
provided us with intimate footage of
some of these magnificent beasts, including their calves.
Unfortunately,
our monitoring has also revealed that the remaining elephants are under severe
pressure, not least from the growing use of snares, a disturbing trend linked
to the increased urban appetite for bushmeat.
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