The Phnom Penh Post
Kampong Chhnang provincial authorities on Saturday intercepted and seized a truck loaded with 300 kilograms of live snakes and tortoises, though the wildlife traders managed to escape, a provincial Forestry Administration official said yesterday.
Thorng Vandy Ravuthy, director of the Forestry Administration, said the live animals included 65 snakes, weighing 212 kilograms, and 30 tortoises, weighing 111 kilograms.
“Those animals were released back into nature; the tortoises were freed into the Tonle Sap river’s flooded forest area, while the snakes were freed in the forests, where their living and reproduction will be ensured,” he said.
The crackdown operation was launched after Vandy Ravuthy’s forces received a report from a forestry community network saying that a truck with Phnom Penh plates was loaded with wild animals, and had departed from Pursat province, he said. The truck was on its way to Phnom Penh via National Road 5.