Government inspectors this week visited the wildlife and seafood eatery and several other Phnom Penh restaurants offering wildlife cuisine, seizing rare animals and warning owners they face fines and even jail time if they continued the practice. Though dining on wildlife poses only a minor threat to Cambodia's exotic fauna, conservationists see the crackdown as crucial for the government's plan to next year join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Cambodian wildlife is threatened by heavy domestic and international demand for rare species.
Poorly enforced hunting laws, rampant deforestation, and millions of deadly land mines left from decades of civil war are also serious dangers. But Cambodia is only one of several nations struggling to control the trade. Street 166 in Phnom Penh is lined with several shops selling guar skulls, tiger teeth, ivory and antlers. In one, which often has tiger skins for sale, the coats of two clouded leopards are pinned to the wall. Much Cambodian wildlife ends up in Vietnamese markets or is sold in Thailand.