October 4, 2021
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
Hatchlings of endangered crocodile species found in Cambodia
HATCHLING HOPES.
In this image released by the
Cambodian Environment Minis-
try and World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), a Siamese crocodile
swims in Srepok Wildlife Sanc-
tuary of Cambodia’s Eastern
Plains, Mondulkiri province,
Cambodia. Eight hatchlings
from one of the world’s rarest
crocodile species were found in
a wildlife sanctuary in eastern
Cambodia, raising hopes for its
continuing survival in the wild.
Conservationists found the
baby Siamese crocodiles in a
river in the Srepok Wildlife
Sanctuary, the Environment
Ministry and WWF said. (Cam-
bodian Environment Ministry
and World Wildlife Fund via AP)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Eight hatchlings
from one of the world’s rarest crocodile species have been
found in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Cambodia, raising
hopes for its continuing survival in the wild.
Conservationists found the baby Siamese crocodiles in a
river in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia’s
Environment Ministry and the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) said.
The team found the young reptiles after spending four
days scouring habitat sites where months earlier they had
discovered footprints and dung.
The species was once widespread across Southeast Asia
but is now listed as critically endangered by the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It
had all but disappeared by the 1990s due to a combination
of factors including poaching, habitat destruction, and
cross-breeding with other crocodile species.
The government and WWF have jointly been searching
for photographic evidence of a breeding population in the
Srepok sanctuary without success for more than a decade,
the wildlife organization said in a statement.
Environment minister Say Samal hailed the discovery
as “such rewarding news,” while Milou Groenenberg of
WWF called it “a significant finding for the species in
Cambodia and globally.”
The statement said the area is being guarded by Srepok
Wildlife Sanctuary rangers.
It’s believed only about 400 Siamese crocodiles remain
in the wild, with most of them in Cambodia. In 2017, wild-
life researchers found six eggs in Sre Ambel District in the
southern province of Koh Kong as they were exploring for
tracks, signs, and dung of the reptile.
CAUTIOUS CELEBRATIONS. An Indian man brings a clay idol of
elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha for immersion in Saroornagar Lake
during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Hyderabad, India, on September
14, 2021. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
Festival season returns to Nepal
amid declining COVID-19 cases
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By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
K
ATHMANDU, Nepal — Tens of thousands of
devotees packed the old palace courtyard in the
heart of Nepal’s capital in mid-September to
celebrate the feast of Indra Jatra, marking the return of
the festival season in the Himalayan nation after it was
scaled down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The weeklong Indra Jatra precedes months of other
festivals in the predominantly Hindu nation.
Kumari, a young girl who is revered by both Hindus and
Buddhists in Nepal as the living goddess, left her temple
palace for the first time in two years and was driven
around the center of Kathmandu in a wooden chariot
pulled by devotees.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and the nation’s
highest officials also lined up to get her blessing, together
with the tens of thousands of others along the short route
from her temple palace and around the heart of the city.
The festival season in Nepal falls around September
and October. The festivals in 2020 were scaled down after
the government imposed restrictions to curb a surge in
coronavirus cases.
Security was stepped up and organizers announced
plans to control the number of those attending.
Continued on page 10
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