Global News - December 2007

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Cambodia set to allow hunting safaris for rich tourists

Wed 12 December 2007 13:20 UK — Asia,Big Cats

Cambodia has announced it is considering allowing a Spanish company to set up a game park for rich foreign tourists to hunt up to 30 species of animal.

The proposed game reserve would be established in a remote northern province of the country, and while the Cambodian government refused to confirm the species to be hunted, Reuters reported that the jungle area is thought to be home to both tigers and elephants.

Explaining the decision to consider the application from the company, Nsok Safaris, the Deputy Director of the Cambodian Agriculture Ministry's Wildlife Protection Office, Dany Chheang, told the website that permitting foreigners to pay to shoot game was a better conservation option than allowing poachers to illegally do so.

"Illegal hunters are burning dollars every day. We have not explored all the potential of our natural resources. Now is the time to do so," he said.

"The money we net will be invested in preserving the animals and forest. It is better for sustainable development than letting local hunters deal with cheap black markets," he added.

Alan Knight, OBE, chief executive of charity International Animal Rescue, said: "Animal lovers and conservationists worldwide will be appalled by this announcement. This 'if you can't beat them, join them' attitude to poaching is no way of dealing with illegal hunting and merely a smokescreen for people seeking to make big money out of trophy hunting.

"The real solution to wildlife poaching lies in robust legislation and effective law enforcement, not the so-called 'sustainable use' of wild animals which is entirely motivated by bloodlust and greed. True conservation is about conserving wildlife for its own sake, not because money can be made out of killing it.

"Local communities would benefit more from the development of sound eco-tourism projects to attract genuine nature lovers, rather than trigger-happy foreigners whose only interest in exotic wild animals is in gunning them down," he added.


A representative of Nsok Safaris assured the Cambodia Daily that the company would not allow the hunting of endangered species in its game reserve.

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