Endangered Cranes Get Refuge in Khmer Rouge Dam in Cambodia
11/21/99
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Endangered cranes get refuge in Khmer Rouge dam
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 21, 1999
PHNOM PENH, Nov 19 (Reuters) - One of Cambodia's most endangered birds
has found refuge in an old Khmer Rouge reservoir built with slave
labour during the group's bloody 1970s rule.
The government announced on Friday the old irrigation works in Banteay
Meanchey province, 300 km (186 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh,
will be turned into a reserve for the red-headed, four-foot (1.3
metre) tall Eastern Sarus Crane.
``The government will seek a royal decree to protect the rare birds,
the cranes. They're endangered from hunting,'' cabinet secretary Nady
Tan told Reuters.
Conservationists say there are fewer than 1,000 of the cranes left.
The 21 km (13-mile) long earthwork dam at Ang Trapeang Thmar was one
of the biggest irrigation works built during Khmer Rouge rule. The
remote area was for years under Khmer Rouge rebel control and the
colony of cranes was only discovered there last year.
But new-found peace has also brought villagers back to the area eager
to plant rice in the wetlands and hunt its animlas.
All hunting and farming will be banned in the 10,250-hectare (25,300-
acre) reserve, Nady Tan said.
The so-called dancing crane used to be common and is featured in bas
reliefs at the ancient Angkor temple complex. Its numbers have
declined sharply due to hunting and the destruction of its habitat.