Early results from our camera-trapping project in!
First, a big thank you to everyone who donated to our project and helped make this camera-trapping project happen. 11 cameras (Reconyx and Bushnells) have been set up in excellent locations in the park, and we already have some exciting early results. We were able to have four of our cameras checked early through a new scheme we have going at Virachey called “camera-trap ecotourism” where ecotourists accompany the rangers on maintainance checks. We hope that this can be a sustainable way to have the cameras serviced on a regular basis -and just look at that massive Sambar deer in the photo above!
The photo above shows a Red muntjac foraging in the morning in the Veal Thom Grasslands, where four of our cameras are strategically placed. The photo below reveals a wild pig entering a wallowing hole, also in the grasslands:
And now what we need to do is to send the rangers into the Park to check on all of the cameras before the onset of the rainy season, which should kick off in May. Park Ranger Sou Soukern, Bon, and Brao porter/guide Kam La are willing to do a 10-day trek to check up on all of the cameras in the park, including the 7 that are in the remote forests near the Laos border. So what we need to do now is raise the Daily Supply Allowance (DSA) funds to send them in. This is our new fundraising goal.
Giant muntjac (above) approaches the popular wallowing hole, part of a permananet swamp in Veal Thom. Malayan porcupines (below) scurry across the forest floor during the night:
Donations of any amount will be a huge help! You can find the “Make a Donation” button down below, or log into your personal Paypal account and make your donation to: gregmccann1@yahoo.com if you’d like to help out. Leopard cat (below) prowling around
As you can see the early results are interesting and they prove that Virachey is still full of wildlife. Bear in mind (no pun intended) that the photos you see in this blog post were taken during just 6 weeks of shooting and that they are just a partial sample of what the four memory cards hold. The other 7 cameras are deeper in the park and the chances of them having images of elephant, leopard, clouded leopard, or even tiger are quite high. And what do we have in the photo above? Is it Sun bear or the rarer Asiatic black bear (which may never have been recorded in the area)? We’ll know for sure when we get the original memory cards (the ranger decided to leave the card from this camera in its case and simply take a photograph of the display screen of a camera that was used to check the pictures; next time all cards will be switched).
Yet another mysterious creature (above)! Is it another Leopard cat, or a Jungle cat, or possibly a Marbled cat? Again, we’ll know when we get that original card. And one more photo (this one less mysterious) below: another Malayan porcupine, this one much less shy than the other two up above:
Your help is greatly appreciated!
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