A Twist in the Tale
Project launched to develop red-headed crane flock in Tràm Chim National Park
1.
Quang Hưng Commune has gone to the dogs. Or, more specifically, the pigs, chickens and ducks.
Many spacious houses in the commune in Phù Cừ District, the northern province of Hưng Yên are now home to these animals instead of people.
Has the small commune witnessed an Animal Farm style uprising? Have the pigs declared all animals equal?
Not quite, as shockingly, an administrative cock-up has led to residents of the commune being forced to trade places with their livestock.
Bureaucratic madness in Việt Nam you say? Surely not! Unfortunately it’s true; Hưng Yên People’s Committee issued an instruction on March 26 last year, asking local residents to destroy their houses that were build on land zoned for agricultural purposes.
To avoid destroying perfectly good houses, residents of the commune moved their animals into the houses, and started living in the animals’ old cages, meaning the lucky animals now live in houses worth some VNĐ1 billion (US$44,400) each.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development did recently run a campaign to ‘save the pigs’, but no-one said anything about housing the pigs. — VNS
