A Danish-funded project to prevent the trafficking of wild animals and plants in and through the central province of Thua Thien-Hue was reviewed on June 29.
Under the project which was carried out from February 2009 to June 2011, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) – Vietnam Programme and TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, have collaborated with relevant agencies and departments to strengthen law enforcement and raise people’s awareness on the issue.
In the reviewed period, relevant forces discovered 88 wildlife trafficking cases and rescued 731 animals alive, which were then released to the forests.
Truong Son mountain range, which runs through Thua Thien Hue province, is home to many species listed in the global preservation list, including tiger (scientifically known as Panthera tigris), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and newly-discovered hooves Sao la (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis).
The area, along the Vietnam-Laos border in Thua Thien-Hue, is known as a hotbed of illegal transport and trafficking of wild animals in Vietnam. Animals are hunted in Laos, Cambodia and neighbouring countries and taken through Thua Thien Hue province to the country’s northern localities and China for consumption.
