{"id":60078476,"date":"2025-04-30T09:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T08:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?post_type=photo_story&p=60078476"},"modified":"2025-04-30T09:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T08:57:19","slug":"bird-hunting-in-cambodia-driven-by-poverty-and-lax-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/bird-hunting-in-cambodia-driven-by-poverty-and-lax-enforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird hunting in Cambodia driven by poverty and lax enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWe set traps every night,\u201d says a farmer from the central Cambodian province of Kampong Chhnang. \u201cAfter setting them up, we sleep by the nets, sometimes in a hammock, sometimes in the fields.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samnang (not his real name) is from a village where nearly all men trap birds. They stretch thin nets up to 50m long next to flooded rice fields, and play bird calls through portable speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf many fly into the nets, we can catch close to ten or more in one night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The catch is then sold as wild meat at roadside stalls or a nearby market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samnang says hunters near the Tonle Sap River, where many birds gather, can trap 50 to 70 birds in one night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/div>
A farmer in the Cambodian province of Kampong Chhnang sets a mist net next to a rice field. With the help of a portable speaker playing specific bird calls, he hopes to catch around ten birds overnight (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bird hunting is rampant in Cambodia and across mainland Southeast Asia, with over 500 species recorded as having been hunted in the past decade alone, according to research<\/a> by conservation NGO BirdLife International, seen by Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wide range of techniques are deployed: lines of hooks<\/a> hidden in paddy fields, snares, artificial<\/a> and live<\/a> decoys, metal slingshots, poisons<\/a>, glue sticks, airguns<\/a>, homemade rifles<\/a>,<\/a> and even crossbow slingshots<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the most indiscriminate and deadly are mist nets. Cheap, easily accessible and requiring minimal effort, these nets are responsible, conservationists say, for the deaths of millions of migratory birds<\/a> across Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"net<\/div>
Netting is one of the most common tools deployed by hunters. It\u2019s cheap, easy to use and indiscriminate (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"cans<\/div>
Empty beer cans tied together and attached to the nets rattle when a bird is caught, alerting the hunter sleeping nearby (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Southeast Asia <\/a>has gained attention for its wildlife snaring crisis<\/a>, where thousands of simple but cruelly efficient snares are laid in protected forests, to be sold for meat. Bird hunting, however, remains largely overlooked. In <\/a><\/a>part this is because it spreads well beyond forests and protected areas, in agricultural land and wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cE<\/a><\/a>mpty forest\u201d syndrome<\/a> \u2013 where lush, seemingly intact landscapes have lost most of their animals to snares \u2013 is already being documented. Conservationists warn<\/a><\/a> that without action, the situation could extend to wetlands and farmlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A thriving trade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dialogue Earth found wild birds openly for sale in 12 locations across six Cambodian provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In nearly every market visited, including in the capital Phnom Penh, bird sellers were easy to find. Along national highways linking provincial capitals to Phnom Penh, stalls displayed plucked or cooked birds: small weavers sold in bunches, doves, whistling ducks, rails, swamphens, herons and even the larger openbill storks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One major site just outside the north-western city of Battambang had the largest display observed, with half a dozen stalls. Some sellers keep additional birds hidden in iceboxes. Beyond roadside trade, hunters like Samnang also supply middlemen and urban clients: \u201cThere are regular buyers from Phnom Penh,\u201d he says. \u201cWe also send birds to them by vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"busy<\/div>
Bitterns for sale in Orussey market in Cambodia\u2019s capital Phnom Penh. Although more cautious and discreet than in the provinces, wild bird sellers are still easy to find (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"dead<\/div>
Even large birds like the Asian openbill stork can be found for sale in the capital. This stallholder, seen displaying birds regularly in Phnom Penh\u2019s Tuol Tumpung market, said the police don\u2019t bother him after he told them he only sells wild birds occasionally (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"dead<\/div>
Birds are displayed more prominently at a major site on the main road to the capital just outside the city of Battambang. Alongside farmed quails, the stalls had a dozen wild species on display, including doves and whistling ducks, sold both plucked and cooked (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bou Vorsak, CEO of conservation NGO NatureLife Cambodia, a BirdLife partner organisation, says the demand for wild bird meat stems from a desire to eat something more \u201cnatural\u201d \u2013 a belief that it\u2019s tastier, healthier and more energising than farmed alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite repeated law enforcement and awareness campaigns, Vorsak says, \u201cpeople still stop the car to buy wild meat along the road, [or] go to a restaurant looking for wild meat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avian defaunation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Hunting and agriculture are the <\/a>leading thr<\/a>eats<\/a><\/a> to birds, mammals and amphibians across the world. A national checklist<\/a> of Cambodian bird species identifies hunting \u201cas the single greatest and ubiquitous threat\u201d to the country\u2019s birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While hunting has long been linked to the decline of rare and endangered species like the <\/a>Bengal florican<\/a>, spoon-billed sandpiper<\/a> and yellow-breasted bunting<\/a>, conservationists are now increasingly concerned about common birds, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"yellow-breasted<\/div>
Once a \u201csuperabundant\u201d migratory species, the yellow-breasted bunting was listed as critically endangered in 2015 due to excessive trapping for meat across China and Southeast Asia (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost bird [species] are actually in decline,\u201d especially migratory <\/a><\/a>species<\/a> wintering in Southeast Asia, says Ding Li Yong, the regional coordinator for migratory species at BirdLife Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yong is also lead author of a regional overview<\/a> of bird-hunting practices released<\/a> at the UN Environment Programme\u2019s 2024 Convention on Migratory Species. Drawing on years of field surveys by local organisations, the report warns that hunting for consumption and trade is expected to \u201cdecimate the populations of erstwhile common and\/or legally unprotected species, and especially species occurring outside protected areas\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Yong, bird hunting \u201chas increased across the whole of Southeast Asia, but decreased in specific protected zones\u201d. The problem, he explains, is that protected areas disproportionately cover forests, along with a handful of wetlands linked to endangered species. But birds reliant <\/a>on paddy fields, salt pans and floodplains fall through the gaps of <\/a>site-based conservation programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"white-breasted<\/div>
A white-breasted waterhen caught in rice fields in south-west Cambodia\u2019s Preah Sihanouk province. While nets are by far the most common hunting tool, a variety of other techniques are used, including sophisticated traps like this one (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Law-enforcement challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Local authorities play a critical role in curbing wildlife crime, yet in Cambodia, conservationists consider enforcement patchy and weak throughout the country. Vorsak says commune councils and district officials need to recognise their role in stopping illegal bird hunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selling wild-caught animals is illegal without a permit, but hunters and sellers operate anyway. Most local agencies lack the resources \u2013 and often the will \u2013 to intervene. Wildlife crimes are seen as minor, and village chiefs or security guards are often unwilling to report or arrest hunters from their own communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey [the village police] let us trap freely in our own village,\u201d says Samnang. \u201cBut if we go elsewhere, we get caught and have to pay.\u201d Bribes typically range from KHR 30,000 to 50,000 (USD 7.50 to 12.50), and trapping equipment is sometimes confiscated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"aerial<\/div>
Eight months after a police raid on this well-known trading site in Kampong Cham province, vendors were once again openly selling wild birds (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Over the past two decades, enforcement agencies have <\/a>seized birds<\/a> and other animals from markets and roadside stalls, leading to reductions in visible trade. One of the country\u2019s most notorious bird-selling hotspots is Batheay, in south-central Kampong Cham province. For over a decade, it has been subject to periodic crackdowns, usually triggered by media reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Dialogue Earth visited the site eight months after a police raid, a vendor was openly selling birds. One person at the site said half a dozen police vehicles arrived shortly after a video<\/a> on local media surfaced online showing birds, turtles and monitor lizards for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u201cThere were no arrests. They just warned us not to sell anymore,\u201d the person said. Her stall is lined with rows of dry fish that she said are selling much better than wild animals, though she confesses to buying birds for her family occasionally. \u201cThose who hunt still hunt,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities later denied<\/a> the wildlife trade was still active in the area, claiming the footage was old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the road, another vendor was selling crakes and whistling ducks. She defended her suppliers, hunters in the village: \u201cThey\u2019re extremely poor. They don\u2019t even have proper houses \u2013 just leaf roofs that leak in the rain. When they catch something, they can buy rice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunting for subsistence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoverty is one of the main drivers of hunting,\u201d confirms Vorsak of NatureLife Cambodia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boeung Prek Lapouv, in the Lower Mekong Delta, is a candidate<\/a> to become a Ramsar site, a wetland of international importance. Vorsak says local people have told him: \u201cI know this is a protected area \u2013 I shouldn\u2019t hunt or fish illegally \u2013 but what else can I do? I need food for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The written agreement system, where offenders sign a pledge not to repeat wildlife crimes, is deployed by rangers when they believe the offender to be of low income. Vorsak notes that the system is ineffective as the reoffending rate is high, but explains that rangers often hesitate to take harsher measures against an already vulnerable household.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"feathered<\/div>
A ranger stands near the remains of a bird of prey in northern Cambodia\u2019s Phnom Kulen National Park. Almost every foray into Cambodian forests is met with similar poaching scenes. Local residents may go into the forest for other reasons, such as to collect plants, honey or wood, and hunt birds for food while there (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An analysis<\/a> of Cambodia government datasets<\/a> by a Monash University researcher found a strong correlation between low income, hunting and wild-meat consumption. The researcher noted the data suggested \u201chunting in rural Cambodia is mostly driven by subsistence concerns\u201d. Broadly, when poor rural families lose income, for instance due to lower agricultural yields caused by rainfall shocks, they often turn to hunting as a coping strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all hunting is for subsistence, however. A 2019 survey<\/a> <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>by NatureLife Cambodia, seen by Dialogue Earth, <\/a><\/a>characterised professional hunters as using mist nets hundreds of metres long, capable of trapping large numbers of birds \u2013 a description corroborated by local media<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most of the hunted wildlife is for domestic consumption rather than sold, says Emiel De Lange, conservation impact technical advisor at Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia. \u201cWhat you see in the market is relatively small compared to what\u2019s being consumed by people,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunting for solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A conservationist working on Cambodia\u2019s wildlife trade, speaking on condition of anonymity, says birds receive far less legal scrutiny than mammals, despite enjoying some level of protection under existing laws. A dedicated bird protection law, the conservationist argues, could help address that gap and prevent bird hunting from being dismissed as a minor issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighbouring Vietnam has already taken this step. In 2022, the government passed<\/a> Directive 4<\/a>, a sweeping law aimed at curbing a growing and <\/a>more <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>organised<\/a> wild-bird trade driven by increasing demand from a rising middle class for bird meat<\/a> in restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/div>
Nets for trapping birds are cheap and easy to find for sale in markets across Cambodia (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Across the region, bird conservationists also want restrictions on hunting gear, which remains widely available in local markets and online. Authorities in China, for instance, have already banned<\/a> the sale of mist nets and other hunting tools. With physical locations more controlled and sellers resorting<\/a> to selling on the internet, online platforms have stepped up their efforts to remove<\/a> hunting tools and display warnings<\/a> when users search for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Stricter enforcement in wildlife sanctuaries is essential, but for such enforcement to be effective, governments must also work to improve livelihoods, notes Vorsak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lange agrees. \u201cBy criminalising that [hunting] behaviour \u2026 you\u2019re imposing costs on the most vulnerable people in society,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One tool De Lange has been researching<\/a> is conservation-focused cash transfers: small daily allowances, equivalent to the poverty line rate, or about USD 2.70 per person, to help Cambodia\u2019s poorest meet basic needs and reduce reliance on hunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lange stresses that such payments are not a silver bullet, but one piece of a broader solution, alongside education, awareness and even social marketing to shift perceptions around eating wild meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"aerial<\/div>
Villagers in the protected wetland of Koh Kapik in the south-western province of Koh Kong report bird hunting is now less common, pointing to greater law enforcement by conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"\/<\/div>
Despite this, in the nearby provincial capital, wild birds can still easily be found for sale in markets and known bushmeat restaurants. A security guard at this market said bird hunting was still taking place on the coast under cover of night (Image: Yann Bigant<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in mainland Southeast Asia, hunting has largely depleted bird populations in Vietnam<\/a> and Laos<\/a>. However, there is cautious optimism in Thailand. Once common, bird hunting has dropped dramatically over the last three decades. As incomes rose and people moved to cities, the Thai government invested in conservation<\/a> and extended <\/a>protection to nearly all native birds \u2013 more than 1,000 species, the BirdLife report<\/a> notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn general, attitudes towards wildlife in Thailand [are] quite positive,\u201d says Yong. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say there are no conservation problems,\u201d he added, such as tourism<\/a> and the exotic pet trade<\/a><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K. Yoganand, former regional lead for wildlife and wildlife crime at WWF, says Cambodia\u2019s future will depend not just on policy, but on whether political elites embrace conservation and, crucially, ensure the benefits of economic development are more evenly shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEconomically, the country will grow, but is the wealth going to be concentrated in a small minority or is it going to be more widely distributed? I think that will drive which trajectory it\u2019s going to take.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional reporting by Nehru Pry and Jessie Li.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was produced with support from Transparency International Cambodia.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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