Wildlife of Lao PDR: 1999 Status Report - IUCN

China and Vietnam (Martin 1992, Srikosamatara et al. 1992,
Baird 1993, Salter 1993a, Mills and Jackson 1994, Baird
1995b, Mainka 1997, Nash 1997). Three main causes (international
trade; low prey densities; and killing over livestock
conflict) make the species clearly and gravely At Risk in Lao
PDR.
Conservation Management and Research Proposed for Cats:
• Formulation of a national Tiger conservation action and
management plan by the central government, involving
full participation of provincial / district authorities, protected
area staff and local people’s representatives (see
Duckworth and Hedges 1998a).
• As measures are needed in so many different fields and a
considerable amount of work is needed both to gather
information and to formulate appropriate directed action,
the designation of specific personnel in CPAWM to be
responsible for cat conservation issues seems appropriate.
These people (perhaps two, with the part-time assistance
of a foreign adviser) would develop the national
Tiger action and management plan and ensure that its
recommendations were enacted to schedule and involving
all appropriate people.
• Complete protection of big cats (Tiger, Leopard and
Clouded Leopard) from hunting and trade. Development
of hunting and trade controls for all other cat species (except
feral domestic cat).
• Conservation of very large areas of habitat (blocks of at
least 1000-2000 sq. km) in which no domestic ungulates
are grazed. Key NBCAs for Tigers and presumably for
other cat species include Nakai-Nam Theun, Phou Louey,
Nam Et, Xe Pian and Dong Ampham.
• Protection to allow recovery of wild ungulate populations
within conservation areas, starting with those where big
cat predation on livestock is a chronic problem.
• Focus by protected area staff in key areas on cat-related
issues, especially anti-poaching activities including intensive
patrolling for, and destruction of, snares and other
cat traps; building of local intelligence networks regarding
poaching activities; and monitoring of Tiger and other
cat populations.
• Development of a specified policy, perhaps including a
compensation system, for cases of livestock depredation,
focussing on rapid action by government on notification
of such cases.
• Awareness programmes within Lao PDR to reduce use
of wild cat products in medicine.
• Investigation of domestic and international trade in other
cat species (particularly Leopard, Clouded Leopard,
Marbled Cat and Asian Golden Cat).
• Investigation of local medicine production techniques and
areas and people involved (believed to be largely in rural
homesteads and thus difficult to control) to allow formulation
of measures to cut production.
Large Mammals
• Further surveys on the distribution, status and habitat use
of small and medium-sized cats in Lao PDR. The national
status of Jungle Cat may be critical, and the habitat
use and status of Fishing Cat are particularly unclear.
Except with Leopard Cat, sightings of live or freshlykilled
cats are rare, and signs and village information are
not demonstrably or reliably separable to species; thus
alternative survey techniques, notably camera-trapping,
merit consideration. Establishment of guidelines for identifying
cat signs to species, and understanding of where
this is not possible, using measurements taken from animals
of all species, of a wide variety of age and sex, in
Lao PDR. Pending further information, key areas for cat
species other than Tiger cannot be identified.
Delphinidae: Marine dolphins (1 species in Lao PDR; 32
worldwide)
• Orcaella brevirostris Irrawaddy Dolphin (= Snubfin
Dolphin). Conservation Significance: Data Deficient (Global);
At Risk in Lao PDR; CITES Appendix II. Documented
Range and Habitat: South (Baird and Mounsouphom 1997,
where mapped). Major rivers, usually in association with deep
pools. Status Information: Occurs in two areas in Lao PDR:
(1) the Mekong River from Cambodia upstream to the
Khonphapheng Falls, and (2) the Xe Kong river and the lower
reaches of its major tributaries the Xe Pian, Xe Khampho,
Xe Kaman (and its affluent the Houay Twai) and (marginally)
the Xe Namnoy and (through connexion in Cambodian
territory) the Houay Kaliang. Contrary to earlier claims, the
Xe Xou seems unlikely to be used (Baird and Mounsouphom
1994, 1997, Baird 1995a, Cunningham 1998). The
populations in the Mekong and Xe Kong were formerly contiguous
through river connexions within Cambodia.
Cheminaud (1939) believed that dolphins did not pass upstream
of the Khonphapheng Falls but a group reportedly
visited the area just upstream for a month in the 1960s (Baird
and Mounsouphom 1994). Villagers reported that dolphins
were once very common residents in the lower 200 km of the
Xe Kong basin in Lao PDR (including the Houay Kaliang),
but since the late 1980s, they have occurred only during the
high-water season. They used to ascend the Xe Kong as far
as Ban Kaleum (Xekong Province) and even a little beyond
(Baird and Mounsouphom 1997). Vietnamese soldiers reportedly
shot many in the Xe Kong basin during the 1970s - 1980s,
and decline has been so marked that Baird and Mounsouphom
(1994, 1997) did not observe the species directly in the basin.
Villagers reported to Robichaud (1998e) seeing 4-5 in
the Xe Kong near Ban Sompoy (Xe Pian NBCA) in October
1997. The last animal recorded in the Xe Kaman died in the
late 1980s (Baird and Mounsouphom 1997), although
Robichaud (1998e) received a second-hand report of one in
the lower reaches in late 1997. Fewer than 10 were estimated
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