HÀ NỘI — The Centre for Wildlife Research and Conservation and representatives of 15 domestic and international conservation organisations operating in Việt Nam have proposed additional regulations to protect the country’s wildlife.

On Tuesday, the centre’s director Nguyễn Văn Thái said the organisations are concerned about the loss of biodiversity due to illegal trapping and hunting in forests.

Surveys in national parks and reserves over the past five years have shown that wildlife populations are declining dramatically, especially populations of pangolins, tigers and sao la (Vũ Quang ox or Asian bicorn) – one of the world’s rarest large mammals.

Illegal wildlife traps remain common in most national parks and nature reserves.

The organisations suggested additional administrative sanctions for illegal entry into forest land. They said setting up camps and bringing hunting tools into forests should be added to the draft amendment of Government Decree 157/2013/NĐ-CP on wildlife protection.

They said this behavior is accompanied by cutting down trees, logging and hunting wildlife.

They added that Việt Nam should have a plan to allow controlled harvesting of some non-timber forest products that do not affect biodiversity.

Việt Nam will face the mass extinction of rare and endangered wildlife species in the near future if trapping activities are not stopped, they said.

Using hunting dogs is also a major problem for the extinction of turtles, pangolins and other mammal species. — VNS