The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in cooperation

with BirdLife International Cambodia, has banned the sale and use of

diclofenac to safeguard the remaining Cambodian vulture population.

BirdLife International Cambodia on Monday issued a press release

saying: “The Government of Cambodia has banned the veterinary sale and

use of diclofenac in the Kingdom with immediate effect.

“The Government has taken this measure to safeguard the remaining

Cambodian vulture population, which is declining and threatened with

extinction.”

Bou Vorsak, Cambodia Programme Manager at Birdlife International,

said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries gave notice of

the measures to stop the import, distribution, supply and use of

diclofenac in treating any kind of animal that could impact vultures.

“Our working group has issued a press release on the

ministry’s notice with regard to the measures to stop the import,

distribution, supply and use of all kinds of diclofenac,” Vorsak said.

He said diclofenac was absent from Cambodia from 2004 until 2017 but remerged in 2018.

“We first found the medicine in Siem Reap province. A licensed

company imported it, so we requested the ministry to ban its further

sale and distribution. The medicine was imported from Vietnam and

India,” Vorsak said.

He said vultures in Cambodia are at risk of extinction, with numbers

declining some 50 per cent in recent years. The 2019 national census

showed that only 120 recorded vultures are remaining in the Kingdom.

Vorsak said poisoning and loss of habitat were the main reasons behind their decrease.

Dr Julia Stenkat, an Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity

veterinarian, said diclofenac was not a danger to most animals, but it

was fatal to vultures.

“Diclofenac, whilst harmless to cattle and other livestock, results

in the death of vultures if they feed on a carcass of an animal

previously treated with this drug,” she said.

Dr Nou Vonika, the public health director of the Department of Animal

Health and Veterinary at the General Directorate of Animal Health and

Production, said that Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Veng Sakhon recognised the impact of diclofenac on the Kingdom’s

vultures and supported the ban.