Camera traps reveal

For the first time ever in Virachey National Park, conservation NGO HabitatID has captured photos of the stumped-tail macaque. “The local villagers said they were there, but the NGOs had never photographed them, so there was no official record of them living in Virachey,” said Greg McCann, field director at HabitatID. Through their camera-trapping project, the NGO aims to use photos of rare animals to convince larger organisations to provide more resources – such as rangers – for neglected National Parks, starting with Virachey. Located in Ratanakkiri in the far northeast, the 333,000 hectare national park became a recognised park in 1993 and received support from a number of NGOs until 2008, when the World Bank withdrew funding for its conservation and ecotourism programs. A bear at night. A bear at night. PHOTO SUPPLIED Nowadays McCann refers to Virachey as a “paper park” – in reality there aren’t enough resources in place to protect it from loggers and poachers. “The idea behind the camera trap project is that we put camera traps where NGOs or governments don’t want to or can’t afford to, and then we will present the photographs to them and hopefully inspire them to come in and do something with the place,” said McCann, who was surprised by the amount of wildlife they had captured since the cameras were installed in January.