Message from the Geckos--Please help save us!

  Do you remember a lizard called “toc-ker”? It’s the geckos.

Most Cambodian boys and men in my village (including me) would use the geckos as our soothsayer for fun. We wanted to know if we would end up marrying a Kramom or a Memai.

If you were a Cambodian and lived around the geckos, you would probably know what I meant.

 Around my parents’ home, I had seen plenty of geckos—some lived on palm trees nearby and a few took up residence inside open spaces between clay tiles of our rooftop.

The geckos did not cry often, but when one of them did, we always bet on our future hoping that the gecko would stop crying when we said “Kramom.”

When the gecko cried out “toc-ker,” I would say “Kramom.” When it went to sound “toc-ker” again, I would say Memai. I would continue my counts between Kramom and Memai until the gecko stopped.

No one knew how many times the gecko would cry, but for me it always stopped when I wanted it to stop. You don't believe that, do you?

I loved the “geckos.” They were harmless and lovable…

Unfortunately, the next Cambodian generations will not be able to play with the geckos as we did. Like many other endangered species in Cambodia, the geckos will be disappeared soon.

Unless we do things differently to save our race, Khmer people, too, will be disappeared like the geckos because we are one of the endangered species. Please help save our race.



Over a thousand geckos discovered in the trunk of a taxi in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Wildlife Alliance.

Over a thousand geckos freed from criminal taxi
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
May 08, 2011

Malaysian gecko buyer kidnapped in Southern Philippines

Monday, May 09, 2011 12:13:50 PM

A leopard gecko. (Photo from news.nationalgeographic.com)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 9, 2011) – A Malaysian national who travelled to the southern Philippines to buy geckos was kidnapped by gunmen on the island of Sulu where security forces are battling militants linked to Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya. The Philippine military said it is still verifying the reports that Mohammad Nasaruddin Bensaidin was seized over the weekend by 10 gunmen in the village of Kajatian in Indanan town. It said the 38-year old man arrived late last month from Kuala Lumpur and has been living in a house in Indanan town. Local radio reports said the foreigner was seized by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is also holding a kidnapped Sulu restaurateur Nelson Lim. The gunmen have demanded P5 million ransoms for his safe release. “Authorities are still trying to verify this report,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman. Local town officials were not immediately available to comment on the reports. Selling and buying of geckos in the Philippines is illegal and a violation of the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001. Geckos are hunted in many parts of the country because of its huge demand in Malaysia where the lizard is highly priced and sold as pet. It is also believed by many Filipinos to cure asthma and cancer. Although geckos are not endangered in the Philippines, its huge demand abroad would eventually affect its populations. Last year, more than 300 geckos were confiscated from traders in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)

Over a thousand tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) were found in a single trunk of a taxi by the Wildlife Rapid Response Team (WRRT), forestry officials, and military police in Cambodia. WRRT is wildlife-crimes program run by Wildlife Alliance.

Boxes filled the taxi’s trunk. In the boxes were bags stuffed with 1,027 tokay geckos, of which nineteen had perished.

"[The tokay geckos] were likely going to be turned into food or possibly dried out for use in traditional medicines. There are also reports that Malaysian syndicates are buying them to fight them in rings, with onlookers gambling on the results," reads a blog from Wildlife Alliance on the incident.

Over a thousand geckos discovered in the trunk of a taxi in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Wildlife Alliance.

Both the alleged wildlife trafficker and the taxi driver, a relative of the trafficker, were apprehended. The pair do not face jail time as the species is not considered endangered, however they face a maximum fine of three times the market value of the species, in this case nearly $4,000.

The surviving thousand-plus lizards were returned to the wild.

Native to much of tropical Asia, tokay geckos are considered generally common, although they have not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List. In some parts of the world they have been introduced and thus are considered pesky invasive species. However in their native habitat, they help keep insect numbers in check.
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