Raising awareness of wildlife protection for Nghe An people

Program Series"Say no to illegal use of wildlife"is an important activity to propagate not to hunt, capture, buy, sell, transport, slaughter, advertise, consume, or store wild, endangered, and rare animals and plants in the province.

According to the synthesis data, in the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve there are about 3,019 species.higher plants and nearly 1,000 speciesanimals live. From 2017 to 2022, on average, 10 cases of wildlife trafficking were seized by the Forest Rangers each year, with about 28,550 animals being illegally traded and transported.

Representatives of Nghe An Forest Protection Department presented on the situation of illegal animal trade and use and prevention solutions in Nghe An in recent times. Photo: Tien Dong

Currently, in Nghe An there are 12,597 individuals of 95 species.wildlifeare being kept in captivity in 386 facilities. Of these, Group Ib species(is a group of endangered wild animals that are strictly prohibited from exploitation and use for commercial purposes and species listed in CITES Appendix I that are naturally distributed in Vietnam)There are 339 individuals at 11 breeding facilities; Group IIb ((is a group of wild animals that are not threatened with extinction but are at risk of being threatened if not strictly managed, exploitation and use for commercial purposes are restricted, and species listed in CITES Appendix II have a natural distribution in Vietnam)There are 6,153 individuals in 295 breeding facilities and 8,095 individuals in 345 breeding facilities. However, the common characteristics of wildlife breeding facilities are small scale, breeding cages are built in gardens and close to houses for convenient care, making the risk of disease transmission from wild animals to humans very high.

17 illegally kept tigers in Yen Thanh district were seized by authorities in 2017. Photo: BNA documents

Recently, although the illegal wildlife captivity in Nghe An province is not widespread, it still occurs, such as hunting and capturing birds and animals in the forests in mountainous districts. In particular, in 2017, the authorities discovered the captivity of 17 tigers in Yen Thanh district...

Subjects and evidence in a wildlife trafficking case were arrested in Con Cuong district. Photo: BNA documents

At the conference, participating organizations and units also proposed a number of solutions to minimize wildlife trafficking. In particular, the authorities need to organize many interdisciplinary inspection teams to inspect and review entities with signs of illegal wildlife captivity. Strictly handle organizations and individuals that illegally captivity wild, endangered, and rare animals, especially in markets, restaurants, and gathering places with signs of illegal wildlife trading and use.

Editor Diep Chi, currently working at Vietnam Television, hopes that every citizen will speak up and say no to the illegal use of wild animals. Photo: Tien Dong

In particular, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda work and sign commitments to protect wildlife in communes and towns, focusing on key communes and hamlets. Because, once the "demand" source is eliminated, the trade and slaughter of wildlife will also be limited...