Many sophisticated tricks of wildlife and rare animal traffickers

Working with the delegation, on the side of Nghe An province, there were comrades: Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Tran Van Mao - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; representatives of the Provincial Police, the Provincial People's Procuracy, the Provincial People's Court, and the Forest Protection Department.

Overview of the meeting. Photo: My Nga

According to reports from functional agencies and units, recently, illegal hunting, trading, and transportation of wild animals and rare creatures in Nghe An province, although not widespread or widespread, still occurs.

Mainly the acts of hunting, catching, trapping, and shooting wild animals of little economic value by people living near the forest, to serve food needs, a small amount to sell to the local market.

At the meeting, the authorities raised difficulties and obstacles in the fight against and prevention of this type of crime.

From 2013 to present, the provincial authorities have handled 167 administrative violations/115 subjects, with a total fine of 579,250,000 VND, confiscated exhibits including 3,689.8 kg of various animals, 5 monkeys, 584 birds of various species, 31 rhino horns, and 8 bull horns.

Deputy Director of the Provincial Police Nguyen Manh Hung said that the Criminal Code does not yet regulate the act of storing products of rare wild animals; or those who tear them apart or divide them into small pieces must bear criminal responsibility.

"These are the "loopholes" that criminals take advantage of to trade and store illegally" - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police Department commented.

Besides, the appraisal of products and parts of rare and wild animals is mostly done by DNA identification method with high cost. There are many cases with a large number of exhibits and specimens that need appraisal.

However, funding sources to support appraisal work are still limited, causing difficulties in combating and handling this type of crime.

Pu Mat National Park Wildlife Rescue Center hands over a tiger to Soc Son Animal Rescue Center (Hanoi). Photo courtesy

Reflecting on the sophisticated methods and tricks of the subjects, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Provincial People's Procuracy Duong Thi Lien analyzed that the main method and trick of the subjects is to capture wild animals using traditional methods such as hunting, shooting, trapping...

Then contact the "sub-merchandise" sources to find every way to secretly transport and sell the products late at night, during the holidays...

In addition, representatives of relevant agencies also raised practical difficulties when some documents were not consistent and instructions lacked specificity, causing difficulties in arresting, investigating, and trying criminal cases to handle offenders who violated regulations on protecting animals in the list of endangered, precious, and rare species that are prioritized.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Viet Hong spoke at the meeting. Photo: My Nga

Speaking at the meeting, comrade Dinh Viet Hong affirmed Nghe An's interest in fighting and preventing crimes and violations of the law on trading, transporting and storing wild and rare animals.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assessed that the meeting provided valuable and useful information for the locality's direction and implementation.

In the coming time, identifying the protection of rare and precious wildlife as an important task, Nghe An will actively direct the fight to meet new requirements from the Central and local governments.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee concluded the meeting. Photo: My Nga

On behalf of the survey delegation, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee Nguyen Van Pha highly appreciated Nghe An for seriously and synchronously implementing many measures to combat and prevent crimes related to the trade, transportation and storage of rare and precious wild animals.

Regarding the existing problems and limitations due to objective reasons such as slow and unsynchronized coordination between central inter-sectoral agencies due to difficulties in legal regulations, the survey team will report to the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee to direct relevant agencies to make appropriate amendments and remedies.

The survey team also recommended that the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, local agencies, departments and branches continue to pay attention to policies, funding and facilities so that agencies have better conditions to perform their tasks.