Five Lesser Adjutants (Leptoptilos javanicus) were successfully transferred from Mundol Kiri province to the wildlife rehabilitation center at the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity in Banteay Srey district of Siem Reap province last April.
Some of these birds were confiscated by the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Mundol Kiri Provincial Department of Environment rangers (PDoE) in April and some were handed in by local communities after being kept as pets.
With good collaboration, PDoE and WCS teams cared for these birds temporarily for a few weeks, receiving guidance from leading experts at ACCB, before all five were transferred by vehicle to the ACCB site for long term rehabilitation.
Lesser Adjutants are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. These huge birds, up to 120 cm tall and weighing up to 6kg, are part of the stork family, and are seen around wetlands feeding mostly on fish, frogs, reptiles, large invertebrates, rodents, small mammals.
This species is threatened by hunting locally and nationally, and by the pet trade internationally. Destruction and overfishing of wetland habitats are also threats, and the global population (estimated at between 5500 and 10 000 mature individuals) is decreasing.