Captive breeding of selected taxa in Cambodia and Viet Nam

The breeding of wild animals in captivity has a history that dates back many thousands of years. In Cambodia, crocodile farming has been practiced since the 10th Century Angkorian era (McClellan and Sovannara, 2004). Perhaps one of Southeast Asia’s best known examples of captive breeding is Thailand’s crocodile farming industry, which has been raising crocodiles for primarily commercial purposes since the 1940s (Kekule, 2001). Captive breeding of wild species, particularly animals, for commercial purposes is one of the most controversial activities involving wildlife.

Despite what may appear to be a relatively straightforward undertaking, captive breeding can cause several problems:

1. potential for disease transmission from captive animals to both humans and wild species;
2. potential for loss of genetic integrity amongst populations of wild species should they breed with escaped captive animals, which are often non-indigenous or hybridised;
3. challenges posed to and burdens imposed upon under-resourced agencies in charge of monitoring and controlling captive breeding operations due to the potential for laundering of wild animals;
4. questionable humane treatment of the animals in captivity; and
5. reduced incentive to conserve wild populations and their habitats.

For individuals interested in establishing captive breeding operations, there is the additional problem that the process for registering commercial breeding operations for species listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is heavily bureaucratic and challenging to follow.