A female roe deer was saved and released into the wild after being trapped by a snare in the Sorng Rukhavorn community forest in Oddar Meanchey province on October 7, according to Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra.

Pheaktra said the roe deer, weighing between 150-200kg, was spotted by forest rangers while they were patrolling the community forest.

“This demonstrated the efforts of our rangers from the environment ministry in conserving natural resources and biodiversity in protected areas and other biodiversity corridors,” he said.

The roe deer, known by its scientific name Capreolus capreolus, is listed in the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and can be seen only in certain protected areas.

In Cambodia, the species has been spotted in protected areas in the north, northwest and northeast of the country. The species is also present in India, China, Indonesia’ Sumatra and Java islands, and Malaysia's Borneo Island, the ministry said.

As part of efforts to clamp down on poaching, the ministry noted that in the first nine months of this year, rangers had found and destroyed nearly 30,000 snares across the country and freed a number wild animals into their natural habitat.

Pheatra called on the public to stop hunting and consuming bush meat as it does not provide any health benefit as claimed by some people and instead only poses a risk of contracting diseases.