Nature and the Environment in the News

Source: e.sinchew-i.com         Issue:
Date: 09/20/2007

Vietnamese Police Confiscate Monkeys Bound For China
http://e.sinchew-i.com/content.phtml?sec=2&artid=200709190025&sdate

HANOI, VIETNAM: Authorities in northern Vietnam have confiscated 91 monkeys, known as long-tailed macaques, smuggled from southern Vietnam and destined for China, a police officer said Monday (17 Sept).

The animals, weighing more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds), were to be sold in China where they would apparently be used to make traditional medicines and served as delicacies in restaurants, said Cao Manh Hai, a police officer in
Quang Ninh province.

Sixteen of the animals were dead and the rest were very weak when police found them on a truck heading to the Vietnam-China border area, Hai said.

They will later on be taken care in a local conservation center, he said.

Quang Ninh is 190 kilometers (120 miles) east of the capital.