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| The frozen animals found at Ngô Đức Cường’s house in the central province of Hà Tĩnh’s Hương Sơn District. — Photo courtesy of the district’s ranger division |
Viet Nam News
HÀ TĨNH — A total of 47 frozen bodies of monkeys and mustelids were found at the home of a resident in central Hà Tĩnh Province on Thursday.
Nguyễn Văn Thành, head of forest ranger division in the province’s Hương Sơn District said the dead mammals were found at Ngô Đức Cường’s house following a raid by the division staff, local police and border guards.
The bodies of the wild animals – 26 monkeys and 21 mustelids – were stored in freezers. Species types of the mammals could not be determined due to the frozen condition.
Cường is a wholesale trader of wild animals, used in meals and traditional medicine. During the raid, the rangers also seized a herd of Asiatic brush-tailed porcupines (Atherurus macrourus), listed as ‘least concern’ on the red list by the International Union of Conservation of Nature, which were being raised at Cường’s home.
Earlier, in late December last year, the joint force of rangers, police and border guards seized 195kg of frozen animals at the home of another resident, Nguyễn Xuân Quân, in the district. The dead animals included pythons, wild pigs, mustelids and porcupines, which were later land filled.
Hà Tĩnh is a hotspot for the illegal trade of wild animals, which has resulted in massive earnings. Some local traders have become millionaires and own villas and Rolls Royce cars. The trend of wildlife meat consumption during luxury meals has led to an increase in the trade of wild animals.
Vietnamese laws prohibited the hunting, killing, trading, breeding and storage of wild animals and violators would face criminal penalty. — VNS
