Open trade in wild animal meat

(Baonghean) -Although there are laws prohibiting hunting and consuming wild animal meat, like many localities in the country in our province, everywhere from the mountains, plains to Vinh City, there are restaurants openly selling wild animal meat, making it impossible not to question the responsibility of relevant sectors and authorities.

Quy Hop town currently has 3 large restaurants specializing in food and drink, selling wild animal meat. It is known that this town is home to many "tycoons" of tin ore and white stone, and wild animal meat specialty restaurants mainly serve them. We went directly to the HK restaurant. The owner was excited: Do you use mountain goat, monkey, or wild boar? I asked which is the cheapest? The owner replied: Wild boar is the cheapest, 250,000 VND/dish, and the above types are from 300,000 - 500,000 VND/dish. I glanced outside the yard and saw a row of billion-dollar cars bringing customers to eat "wild food". The floors of the restaurant are divided into small rooms, all equipped with air conditioners. The ground floor alone can accommodate about 20 tables. The waiters continuously bring in wild meat to customers.

Asked to buy about 10 kg of various wild animal meat to bring back to Vinh City to entertain guests, but afraid of being discovered by forest rangers, the owner shook her head: Don't worry, the most here now are weasels, porcupines, wild boars, turtles...

Wild animals...

The sales person took me to the place where wild animals were butchered. The bones and organs of wild animals were piled on the dirty cement floor. After being “cut up”, the animals were put into large and small freezers to serve customers who ate and drank on the spot or bought them to cook themselves. The sales person opened the freezer, we saw 3-4 weasels, porcupines and quite a lot of chopped wild boar meat.

The restaurant owner offered a price: “Wild boar meat is 500,000 VND/kg, mink 700,000 VND/kg... Come back at around 5 pm, I will put it in a styrofoam box with ice, the meat will be delivered to Vinh fresh! According to Mrs. T, the restaurant owner, the wild animals here are mainly brought by hunters from all over the country from Quy Hop, Que Phong, Tuong Duong... Some wild boars, mountain goats... are trapped and kept in cages waiting to be slaughtered, those that are shot dead are butchered by hunters to take their organs, the rest are iced and brought to the restaurant to sell.

...has turned into food

Coming to Yen Thanh, one would think that the rice granary area only "reigns" in roast duck. But a local friend "revealed" that there is also a wild animal meat restaurant at Tran slope in Dong Thanh commune. We rode our motorbikes around the hills to Mrs. K's restaurant in Dong Thanh commune, which specializes in selling "wild animals". Seeing us, Mrs. K enthusiastically said: "You guys should aim for monitor lizard or porcupine or wild boar meat." I said to buy the meat and cook it yourself. Mrs. K opened the freezer, there were 5 types of wild animals, such as pigs, porcupines, mountain goats, weasels, monitor lizards... Mrs. K affirmed that the wild animals here are genuine, mainly caught by hunters in Tan Ky and Quy Chau. Although the specialty restaurant is located in a remote area, customers come here to eat in droves. It is known that this restaurant serves customers in the district and Dien Chau district the most.

Along National Highway 7, right at Khuon Bridge - Do Luong, there is also a famous restaurant specializing in selling wild animal meat. There are days when hundreds of "big" customers come to "drink" wild food. Customers who like to buy fresh, live wild food are "pampered" by the restaurant owner. In Con Cuong district, there are 2 restaurants specializing in eating wild food located along National Highway 7. It is known that this is a place near Pu Mat National Park, the flow of wild animals "flowing" from the National Park is quite large. People also know the "monkey island" in Mon Son commune - Con Cuong. "Monkey island" is a mountain on the banks of the Giang River, where monkeys live in large numbers. But over the years, the monkeys here have been exterminated by hunters, hunted and brought to restaurants and hotels.

In Vinh City, after researching, we found that there are dozens of restaurants that sell wild meat. Among them, 8-10 are very large-scale businesses. At the KB restaurant near the provincial post office, I told the restaurant staff that I needed to order about 20 trays of "wild meat." The waiter quickly showed us the menu. We saw that, in addition to the hill chicken dish, there was a list of 6-8 types of wild meat. He said: Look at the menu and write down the phone number, just notify about 2 hours in advance, if you like fresh wild meat to slaughter directly, we also have it. Then he told us the prices, stir-fried, boiled, steamed wild boar meat is 250,000 VND - 300,000 VND/dish, antelope is 150,000 VND/dish, porcupine is 500,000 VND/dish. Near the provincial continuing education center, there is a famous NC restaurant that sells wild meat. Here, they mainly serve "VIP" customers, each meal of wild animal meat plus foreign wine costs about 10 million VND/meal. Some people said: The staff at this restaurant also know the preferences of each "rich" person, they like to eat what kind of wild animal food, no need to ask, just bring it out. What surprised us the most is that these wild animal specialty restaurants, in addition to serving on-site, also supply wholesale and retail for customers to take home, as gifts. Operating openly for many years, they have not been detected and handled by the authorities. According to our survey, most of the above restaurants have committed to not consuming products of unknown origin. But the vast majority of the menu has wild animal meat, this is also the reason why many rare animals are at risk of extinction.

Trading wild animal meat is considered "one capital, ten profits", high profits, while the relevant functional sectors are lax, so in the province there are more and more restaurants selling "forest products". It is known that in Pu Mat National Park and Pu Huong Nature Reserve, forest weeks are regularly organized, in which from 2011 to now, hundreds of traps have been removed, dozens of hunting guns have been confiscated. But that still cannot prevent hunters from sneaking into the great forest to hunt animals. Every year, the provincial authorities have also caught dozens of cases of illegal wildlife consumption and transportation, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, there are many underground networks openly transporting wild animals from the forest to consume in restaurants in the province but have not been discovered and handled. Meanwhile, restaurants selling animals of unknown origin are openly operating and are rarely handled.

It is time to have stricter sanctions against restaurants and eateries, prohibiting the sale and use of wild animals. Relevant authorities, especially the Forestry Department, need to urgently inspect all restaurants and hotels that trade in wild animals to strictly handle them according to the law.

Dinh River