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| Rangers use bikes for patrolling in Yok Đôn National Park. — Photo Dantri.com.vn |
Viet Nam News
ĐẮK LẮK — Forest rangers in Yok Đôn National Park in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk have this month started using bicycles for patrolling instead of going on foot.
Đỗ Quang Tùng, director of the national park, said 60 bicycles have been bought for 16 forest protection stations.
Tùng said each station was usually in charge of an area of up to 20-30km, making it difficult for the rangers to complete their patrolling on foot.
Meanwhile, if the forest rangers rode motorbikes, intruders such as illegal timber loggers could easily hear them because of the engine noise. Moreover, motorbikes were costlier because of fuel and maintenance fee, particularly since their patrolling routes were in forest and mountainous areas, Tùng said.
The director also said the bicycles were slow enough for riders to observe the surroundings and possibly detect traces of new plants or animals living in the national park.
Yok Đôn National Park is located in Krông Na Commune, Buôn Đôn District, Đắk Lắk Province, 40km west of Buôn Ma Thuột City. The park was established in 1991 to protect 582sq.km of a biological area of the khộp lowland forest. Total area is more than 1,155sq.km (not including a buffer zone of 1,138sq.km). It borders Mondulkiri Protected Forest (Cambodia) to the west and is part of perhaps the largest protected area complex in Southeast Asia.
Yok Đôn National Park is one of the most biodiverse forests in Việt Nam. This park is an important site for the conservation of globally endangered species, such as Indochinese tiger, Indochinese leopard, Indian elephant and gaur. — VNS
