Wildlife of Lao PDR: 1999 Status Report - IUCN

• Consideration of appropriate methods of legal protection
for muntjac species other than M. muntjak. Identification
of muntjacs to species in the field is too difficult for
differential national protection levels between species to
be operable, while M. muntjak is too widespread a quarry
species for a blanket ban on hunting of all muntjacs
throughout Lao PDR to be feasible, or desirable.
All species of deer:
• Regulation of trade and ownership of trophy antlers, hunting
and trading of meat.
• Zonation of NBCAs to reflect seasonal needs and ranging
of deer, notably to include adequate dry-season
water supplies and salt-licks.
• Cessation of snaring in all areas supporting large numbers
of any deer species other than M. muntjac.
• Development and implementation of measures to reduce
poaching for meat, currently believed to be the main
reason behind deer hunting.
• Investigation into the contribution of medicinal reasons
in deer poaching.
• Investigation of possibilities for farmed deer to substitute
for wild-taken animals in domestic and/or international
trade, if stemming poaching seems too challenging.
However, such farming is unlikely to preserve either
the large tracts of wildlife habitat that conservation
in the wild will necessitate, or the Tiger and other carnivore
populations which prey on wild deer.
Bovidae: Cattle, goat-antelopes (5-10 species in Lao PDR;
137 worldwide)
[Bos taurus Domestic Cattle]. Delacour (1940) mentioned
that feral domestic cattle inhabited south Indochina, but there
is no recent evidence of such animals. It is likely that they
would be as heavily hunted as wild cattle and/or assimilated
back into domestic stock.
• Bos sauveli Kouprey. Conservation Significance: Globally
Threatened - Critical; Conditionally At Risk in Lao PDR;
CITES Appendix I. Endemic to Cambodia and small parts of
Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam; extirpated from most or all
of this range (Hedges in prep.). One of the world’s most threatened
vertebrate species, and perhaps the rarest species of large
mammal if it is not already extinct. Documented Range and
Habitat: South (provisionally M8 ; historically, Lekagul 1952).
Grass plains covered by tree savanna and patches of open
and dense forest (Wharton 1957, for Cambodia). Status Information:
Post-1980 reports of Kouprey were received at
eight locations during 1988-1993 village interviews (Salter
et al. 1990). Field surveys at three of these during 1991-1993
and 1997-1998 saw neither animals nor fresh signs certainly
of the species (Cox et al. 1991, 1992, Duckworth et al. 1994,
Steinmetz in prep.). Evidence for the persistence of Kouprey
Large Mammals
in Lao PDR is limited to villagers’ reports (synthesised in
Duckworth and Hedges 1998a). Salter et al. (1990) stated
that 40-100 animals in Lao PDR was “certainly of the correct
order of magnitude ... and may even be conservative”
but the species may have disappeared from Lao PDR since
then. Historically Kouprey appears to have ranged from Cambodia
north to, but not crossing, the Xe Bang-Nouan river
(Prince Petcharaj in Lekagul 1952). Deuve (1972) recorded
it only from Khinak, Champasak Province (near Dong Kalo,
Xe Pian NBCA), but gave no details. Five sets of Kouprey
horns seen in a village in southern Champasak Province in
1989 reportedly came from Cambodia (Salter et al. 1990:
Appendix 3). Two sets of bulls’ horns in Attapu homes in
1997 were obtained prior to 1967 and their origin is unclear
(Davidson et al. 1997). Salter et al. (1990: Appendix 4) cautioned
that the recent distributional information for Lao PDR
used by MacKinnon and Stuart (1988) was of uncertain quality;
e.g. one supposed set of horns was from a Gaur, not a
Kouprey. Extensive areas of otherwise suitable habitat are
now heavily disturbed, primarily through hunting and burning.
This prevents their use by Kouprey (Cox et al. 1992).
The national origin of horns reportedly sold to Thai buyers
along the Lao/Thai border (Srikosamatara et al. 1992, Baird
1993, Srikosamatara and Suteethorn 1994, La-Ong et al.
1997) is uncertain. Most parts of Kouprey were used in traditional
medicine (Baird 1995b). The lack of recent records
despite substantial effort suggests that Kouprey may already
be extinct in Lao PDR, hence its categorisation as Conditionally
At Risk in Lao PDR.
• Bos gaurus Gaur (included in B. frontalis M6 , in B. frontalis
Gaur M7 ). Conservation Significance: Globally Threatened -
Vulnerable; At Risk in Lao PDR; CITES Appendix I. Documented
Range and Habitat: North M16 , centre M8 , south M8 ;
recent records and reports mapped in Duckworth and Hedges
(1998a). Evergreen forest, sometimes in mosaic with other,
more open habitats, from Mekong plains up to at least 2000
m. Status Information: Reported during 74% of 1988-1993
village interviews (n = 328), discontinuously distributed
throughout Lao PDR (Annex 5). Field records come from
many survey areas (Table 12), but over-hunting has reduced
the population and survivors occur mainly in remote sites.
Area with populations likely to be nationally important include:
(1) the Nam Theun catchment (especially the Nakai
Plateau, Nam Theun Corridor PNBCA and the fringes of
Khammouan Limestone NBCA), (2) Nam Phoun, (3) Nam
Ha, (4) Phou Louey, (5) Nam Xam, (6) Phou Xang He, (7)
Dong Phou Vieng, (7) Dong Ampham and (8) Xe Pian
NBCAs, and (9) Dong Khanthung PNBCA (Duckworth and
Hedges 1998a). Historical information is thin, but Gaur still
occur in some sites noted by Deuve (1972), e.g. Sangthong
District (provisionally), the Nakai Plateau and Nam Kading
NBCA. Many Gaur inhabited the Bolaven Plateau (Engelbach
1932) and eastern Savannakhet Province (David-Beaulieu
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