(January 19, 2023) Koh Kong - Over the last few days of January 2023, the WCS Turtle Conservation Team collected 54 Royal Turtle eggs from four clutches deposited on an artificial sand bank beside a breeding pond at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center (KKRCC). The eggs were laid on the night of January 16 and 18, according to images obtained from a camera trap installed on the sand bank. This is the third consecutive year that Royal Turtles have laid eggs in captivity in Cambodia. The team expects to ...

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(May 23, 2022) Kratie (May 23, 2022)—To mark World Turtle Day, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with Fisheries Administration celebrates the conservation of the Critically Endangered Cantor’s Giant Softshell Turtles in Cambodia, by releasing 580 hatchlings into the wild​ along the Mekong River in Sambour district of Kratie province​. “With continuous support from our donors and good cooperation from the Fisheries Administration (FiA), plus strong commitments of our fiel...

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(May 20, 2022) Koh Kong, Cambodia (20 May 2022) – Thirty Royal Turtle babies hatched in an artificial sand bank at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center (KKRCC) last week. This is the second time that Royal Turtles have laid eggs in captivity in Cambodia. During the 2022 nesting season Royal Turtles in a captive-breeding group at KKRCC laid 81 eggs in nine clutches and 30 of them hatched. This compares favorably with 2021, when only one of 71 eggs in five clutches successfully hatched. At the sa...

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(April 20, 2022) In 2022, a Royal turtle (Batagur affinis) at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Centre (KKRCC) has laid 80 new eggs which will soon hatch. This brings hope for environmentalists after only one of the 71 eggs laid last year hatched due to lack of conditions. Som Sitha, Project Manager of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), told The Post on April 11 that Steve – a one-year-old royal turtle – was the only egg among the 71 eggs that hatched at the (KKRCC) back in 2021. It was name...

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(November 26, 2021) Kampong Seila (November 26, 2021) – The European Union (EU), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and the Fisheries Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, today released 51 critically endangered Royal Turtles into the Sre Ambel River system in Kampong Seila district of Preah Sihanouk Province. All the 51 Royal Turtles, globally known as Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis), were collected immediately after emerging from their nests along the Sre ...

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(September 21, 2021) The Southern River Terrapin, Batagur affinis, is a large river turtle with a carapace up to 625 mm in length. This species inhabits large rivers and estuaries of the southern Malay Peninsula (southern Thailand and West Malaysia), Sumatra, and a remnant population is found in Cambodia. The Southern River Terrapin is declining across Southeast Asia and listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and considered one of the world's 25 most endangered turtles. The popula...

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(January 28, 2021) Kampong Seila – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Department of Fisheries Conservation of the Fisheries Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, ​​in collaboration with Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), today released ten critically endangered Royal Turtles (Batagur affinis) into the Sre Ambel River system in Chamkar Luong commune, Kampong Seila district of Preah Sihanouk province. The release was made under a jointly funded project supported by th...

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(August 11, 2020) Last week, WCS SMART team, in collaboration with Fisheries Administration, provided a two-day training course on “Patrol Data Collection Using SMART Mobile App” for counterparts from Fisheries Administration Cantonments in Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces and five fisheries communities along the Sre Ambel River system. The training aimed to build capacity of the participants on how to use SMART Mobile App for accurate data collection and freshwater law enforcement field observat...

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(May 26, 2020) Koh Kong—On May 24, 2020, H.E Veng Sakhon, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) led a delegation to visit Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center located in Tuol Koki village of Koh Kong province. The purpose was to learn about WCS’s Royal Turtle Conservation Project which has been implementing since 2001 in collaboration with MAFF’s Fisheries Administration (FiA) and local community along the Sre Ambel River System in Sre Amble district in Koh Kong and Preah Sih...

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(May 19, 2020) Koh Kong – Twenty-three Royal Turtles hatched from nests on the Sre Ambel River this year. This is more than the total number hatched in the previous three years combined. The 23 hatchlings were from three Royal Turtle nests found and protected by a community nest protection team on two sand beaches along Sre Ambel River system in Koh Kong Province. One of the nests was found on a beach used every year by the turtles, while the other two nests were found on a beach not used by turtles...

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(February 12, 2020) Koh Kong (Feb 12, 2020) – As of January 2020, conservationists from the local communities, Fisheries Administration and WCS found three nests of Royal Turtle with a total of 51 eggs in the Sre Ambel River System. During the previous four years only one nest was found each year. This success comes after the release of the circular and Prakas (announcement) dated July 10, 2017 by the Ministry of Mines and Energy on the resolution to stop all sand dredging business along the Sre Ambel River S...

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(January 10, 2020) Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Department of Fisheries Conservation of Fisheries Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, ​​in collaboration with Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), today released 20 Critically Endangered Royal Turtles (Batagur affinis) into the Sre Ambel River system in Dong Peng commune, Sre Ambel district of Koh Kong province. The release was made under a jointly funded project supported by the European Union (EU), WRS, Rainforest Trust, US Fo...

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(May 25, 2019) To celebrate World Turtle Day, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Department of Fisheries Conservation of Fisheries Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries released 200 Endangered Cantor’s Giant Softshell Turtle Hatchlings into the Mekong River on May 25. This is the fourth release of Cantor’s Giant Softshell Turtle Hatchlings into the ​Mekong River in 2019, following the second and third event last March and April in the same district where 654&...

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(May 02, 2019) Four new Royal Turtle hatchlings hatched and were taken late last month to Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Centre (KKRCC) in Koh Kong Province, for feeding, raising and possibly breeding in the future. The four hatchlings emerged from a nest of seven Royal Turtle eggs found by a WCS Community nest protection team on a nesting beach along the Kampong Leu River in Preah Angkeo village, Dangpeng commune, Sre Ambel district in January 2019. Unfortunately, only four eggs successfully hatched, while the...

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(April 26, 2019) Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Department of Fisheries Conservation of Fisheries Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries released today 20 Critically Endangered Royal Turtles into the Sre Ambel River system, in Boeng Trach village, Chamkar Luong commune in Kampong Seila district of Preah Sihanouk province. The release was made under the EU-funded project implemented by WCS in partnership with Wildlife Alliance, Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT) and the ...

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(November 16, 2018) Sre Ambel, Koh Kong Province (November 14, 2018) - The circular and declaration issued on 10 July 2017 by the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s (MME) to stop all types of sand dredging activities in Sre Ambel River system in Koh Kong Province, have led to the renewal of the nesting beaches along the river. Thanks to heavy rain and floods, some of the beaches are coming back naturally. This is the result of the great efforts and success of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration w...

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(October 05, 2018) Sre Ambel, Koh Kong Province (October 05, 2018) - After their release in November last year in Sre Ambel River system, the WCS monitoring team and the Department of Fisheries Conservation of Fisheries Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported that recovery efforts for the only remaining wild population of the Southern River Terrapin are showing signs of success. All of turtles that were released in 2017 have been detected since. The monitoring data shows that one h...

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(March 20, 2018)   -   Conservationists from Fisheries Administration (FiA) WCS and community members have found 20 nests of Asian Giant Softshell Turtle containing 663 eggs on sand bars along the Mekong River in...

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(February 18, 2018)   -   A nest of the Critically Endangered Royal Turtle with 16 eggs has been discovered by conservationists from Fisheries Administration (FiA), WCS, and local communities along Sre Ambel River system...

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(December 18, 2017)   -   A nest of the globally Endangered Asian Giant Softshell Turtle was found so far this season​ on a sandbar on the Mekong...

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