Stung Treng provincial authorities raided a market in Stung Treng town on Friday, confiscating more than 150kg of rare wildlife meat and live animals.

The vendors escaped, a forestry official said on Sunday.A Forestry Administration official who took part in the raid and asked to remain anonymous said the 200kg haul included 81kg of various meat, 5kg of dried boar, 52.5kg of fresh boar and 23.5kg of sambar deer. Also confiscated were 8.1kg of various animals and 10 turtles, which weren’t weighed.

The source said wildlife vendors had fled from the market despite the fact the taskforce had tried to keep the raid under wraps.

“The crackdown was not announced at the local level as we didn’t want the vendors to know it was coming. But they still escaped, so we confiscated the meat and live animals and have assigned local officials to burn the meat. We also sent the surviving animals to the Phnom Tamao Zoo,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Ratanakkiri, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team from the NGO Wildlife Alliance Cambodia raided a local market in the province reputed to sell bush meat.

After being tipped off by other vendors, the team ambushed the market and sealed off the stalls. However, the vendors there also escaped.

After a search of the stalls, the team confiscated 173kg of rare wildlife meat, including that of sambar deer, red muntjak, boar, Burmese hare, porcupine and Bengal monitor lizard.