ENV

News Brief (E169, 10th - 16th June, 2006)

Banteng hunted in Ea So Nature Reserve
Dak Lak province – On June 6, rangers of the Ea So Nature Reserve discovered and confiscated the head and limbs of a banteng (Bos banteng) from four local hunters. The hunters, which were arrested, were residents of Ea Kar District in Dak Lak province.

(Law Newspaper issue 138 dated June 9; People’s Police issue 403 dated June 10, 2006)

A wildlife shipment stopped in Dak Lak
Dak Lak province – On June 11, Traffic police in Dak Lak province stopped a jeep with the plate number 47N-2702 and confiscated a total of 391 kg of wildlife. The wildlife included 235 kg of monitor lizards (Varanus sp.), giant Asian pond turtles (Heosemys grandis), elongated tortoises (Indotestudo elongata) impressed tortoises (Manouria impressa), 50 kg of Indochinese rat snakes (Ptyas korros) and 3 kg of pangolins (Manis sp.). On June 12, the Forest Protection Department (FPD) reportedly released all of the animals into Ea So Nature Reserve.

(Law Newspaper issue 163 dated June 15, 2006; Dak Lak Provincial FPD)

Hoa Binh and Ha Tay Wildlife Restaurants Ducking the Law
Wildlife specialty restaurants have become popular now in the area of Xuan Mai (Ha Tay province) and Luong Son (Hoa Binh province) along Highway No.6. Local residents say that many of these restaurants are supplied with animals from national parks and nature reserves in the area. 

Crocodile leather making Source: website of Liberated Sai Gon

In May, Luong Son district FPD sent an inspection team to check all the restaurants in the area. Rangers reportedly confiscated 11kg of wildlife from Thanh Loan Restaurant and fined the restaurant owners 2,000,000 VND. The inspection team also asked the owners of the other restaurants to sign a commitment not to serve wildlife in dishes.

(Life and Law issue 67 dated June 6; ENV hotline June 7)

Crocodile exported from breeding farms in Ho Chi Minh city
According to the National  FPD,  four crocodile breeding farms including Ton Phat, Hoa Ca, Forimex, and Suoi Tien in Ho Chi Minh city  received permits to export 34,850 crocodiles abroad from the Vietnam office of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). During the first six  months of the year, 925 tons of crocodile leather and 550 corcodiles have been exported to China, Japan and some European countries.

There are as many as 200 crocodile breeding farms nation-wide according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. However, only four have been issued permits to export crocodiles.  The other farms must first prove that their breeding stock of crocodiles are not from the wild, and they must register their crocodiles as required by the CITES.

(Liberated Sai Gon dated June 12 and thanhniennews website dated June 12, 2006)

Serious pollution from shrimp head, shell processing manufactures

Scene of a shrimp head, shell processing manufacture (Source: Cuu Long River Delta Jounalist Group)

Ca Mau province – Recently, there have been a large number of complaints from the public about shrimp processing factories.

According to local residents, decomposing shrimp heads and shells are piling up in front of the factories and smelling up the neighborhood.  In addition, the factories reportedly use hydrochloric acid in the processing of shrimp, and wastewater from the factories is released directly into rivers and canals, killing fish and shrimp bred by aquaculture households, and polluting the waterways.

(Liberated Sai Gon dated June 12; website dantri.com.vn dated June 12, 2006)

New law document

Regulation on captive bear management
On June 6, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a new Regulation on captive bear management attached with Decision 47/2006/QD-BNN. The regulation applies to organizations, households and individuals in Vietnam, Vietnamese living abroad, foreign organizations and individuals who take actions involved in breeding bears within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Activities which include buying, selling, advertising, exporting, importing, temporarily importing, re-exporting bears and products made from bears as well as killing, exploiting, transporting, and trading bear parts including bile are effectively banned.

(Website khoahoc.com.vn dated June 10, 2006; National Forest Protection Department dated June 13).

Articles on Website

Protect Vietnam’s elephant
http://www.vov.org.vn/?par=97&page=98

Oil pollution in Binh Thuan coastal area, an alarm to marine environment
http://www.vneconomy.com.vn/tbktvn/index.php?param=info&name=Kinh%20t?%20-%20Xã%20h?i&id=15704

Binh Duong province: 1600 plant species identified in Cat Tien National Park
http://www.monre.gov.vn/monreNet/default.aspx?tabid=209&ItemID=14782

Photograph of Week    

The killing of a monitor lizard at a restaurant in Luong Son district (Hoa Binh province) Source: Trinh Le Nguyen

For more information, please contact:

Nguyen Phuong Dung
Education for Nature - Vietnam (ENV)
No.2/C5 tap the Dai hoc Ngoai Thuong, pho Chua Lang, Ha Noi.
Tel/Fax: 04-775 3685
env@fpt.vn or communication.env@fpt.vn