Seized ivory to be displayed
THE Ministr y of Environment is look ing at places to display seized elephant ivor y and ot her illega l exotic items to highlight t he “bruta lit y” of people, despite internationa l conser vation organisation Wildlife Allia nce ca lling for t hem to be destroyed.
Ministr y of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra told The Post that some of t he ivor y seized at Phnom Penh port in a significant case in 2016 was current ly in t he hands of t he courts, wit h t he rest impounded in safe locations.
The haul included elephant ivor y and pangolin sca les.
“Relevant aut horities should look at possible [display] locations. The goal of the government is to keep seized ivor y, rhinoceros horns and other rare specimens to show to the public and for research purposes.
“We will consider how best to put t he items on display for safekeeping and a llow the public to v iew them and researchers to study,” Pheaktra said.
The Ministr y, he said, had not yet set a date for t he completion of t he project.
Prime Minister Hun Sen disagreed with a request by Wildlife Alliance to destroy the more than one tonne of ivory seized in the 2016 case, calling instead for it to be put on display.
“Why should t he ivor y be destroyed? This would be like the destruction of ev idence. We will put the ivor y and rhinoceros horns on display,” Hun Sen said.
Chan Vichet, Save Cambodia’s Wildlife (SCW) programme manager, said t he ivor y should be put on display as dinosaur bones were.
“We will keep what we have confiscated from offenders. It is not us who take part in the destruction of wildlife. When we catch offenders, the Ministry of Environment will put their traps on display so people can see the brutality of those who use such equipment to kill animals in this way.
“If we destroyed the traps and wildlife specimens, there would be no ev idence of t his bruta lit y for t he younger generation to learn from,” Vichet said.
Suwanna Gauntlett, the director of Wildlife Alliance, could not be reached for comment.
On December 15, 2016, authorities discovered more than a tonne of ivor y, as well as elephant ta ils, tiger bones and pangolin sca les, at Phnom Penh port when they opened t wo shipping containers being transported from Preah Sihanouk prov ince.
In the operation, the authorities found 640 elephant tusks weighing 1.3 tonnes, 137.6kg of pangolin scales, more than 82kg of tiger bones and nearly 5kg of elephant tails hidden under timber.