Posted on September, 07 2012
When we launched the action on World Ranger Day on 31 July, the rangers were very happy as this was the first time ever that there was a lot of information about them – profile articles, press releases and web features – in promotional activities across Cambodia and worldwide.
“They are very excited that their work is recognised by people from across the WWF network as well as outside Cambodia,” said Asnarith Tep, WWF-Cambodia’s communications manager. “In response to all this, the rangers said they would double their effort to protect the tiger landscape."
WWF-Cambodia has taken to receiving the postcards for the rangers due to uncertainty in postal services to outlying areas in the country. WWF staff recently were in Mondulkiri to hand over the postcards received so far to the rangers.
Eng Mengey, WWF-Cambodia’s communications officer, managed to catch up with ranger/field researcher Vong to get his reaction to receiving the postcards:
Mengey: Is there any particular postcard that you like and why?
Vong: I do like all the postcards that were sent to me and the other rangers in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri Protected Forest because it means more than a postcard. It is a strong encouragement and motivation, which I have never before received from outsiders. I personally like one postcard the most because I think it was sent by a young person due to the message written, language used and the handwriting. As I noticed, most postcards were sent from older people. This postcard clearly shows that young people also care about the environment and that is positive sign for the future of conservation.
Mengey: What message has especially touched you?
Vong: “I love you because you save the animals” is the message that was written in the postcard I mentioned earlier. The message is simple, but it touches my heart. It gives me strong motivation and encouragement to work hard in this landscape. I would like to say thank you so much to all the people who have sent postcards to me and the other rangers because it is a strong encouragement and motivation to us as rangers to work hard to protect the forest and its wildlife.
Mengey: What do you think of people sending all these postcards to you?
Vong: I think it’s important as they are from people who support conservation. In addition, I think that they are aware of the significance of conservation, and they would like to play an important part in conservation as well. I do hope that more people will keep sending us postcards.
We will be getting more reactions from the other rangers as soon as they are back from patrollng the field.
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* Cards4tigers is a WWF initiative to tell rangers that around the world, people recognize and support their hard and dangerous work in keeping wild tigers safe. With fewer than 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild, poaching still is one of the gravest threats to their survival. Rangers are critical in the fight to achieve Zero Poaching of tigers and their prey, along with stopping the illegal wildlife trade.
