Illegal wildlife trade rampant in southern Vietnam    This monkey was offered for sale at a venison trading site in HCMC's Binh Tan District in late October Photo: Tuoi Tre Despite regulations on the conservation of wildlife, many people in different areas of Vietnam unflinchingly trade in endangered, rare and precious animals, even trans-nationally, a Tuoi Tre investigation has found. One of the leading sellers is a man named Duong, about 40 years old, who trades live, slaughtered and frozen wild animals in a rented area in Binh Hung Hoa Ward, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City. Duong receives a large number of customers every day, at all hours. In order to boost sales, Duong even arranges his products on a sidewalk nearby to sell to passersby. On October 17, Duong told Tuoi Tre reporters who pretended to be interested buyers that he offered many kinds of wildlife, including bears, weasels, java mouse-deer, flying foxes, wildcats, night herons, bamboo rats, wild boars, and poisonous snakes, among other species. He sold a flying fox for VND450,000, an Asian palm civet for VND 900,000, and a king cobra for VND1.8 million (US$86). As a big wildlife trader, he has set up a secret storage area in Tan Phu District as an alternative place for his establishment in Binh Hung Hoa in case it is detected and shut down by authorities. At the storage site, he has sold a 6-kg Malayan bear for VND23 million ($1103). Duong has bought wildlife mainly from the Central Highlands provinces, especially Dak Lak, and Cambodia, and then supplied them to customers in various parts of the country, including Hanoi. These java mouse-deer are wholesaled for VND300,000 ($14.4) per kilogram (Photo: Tuoi Tre) This bear's foot is offered for sale at a trading site on village road no.3, Binh Hung Hoa Ward, Binh Tan District, HCMC (Photo: Tuoi Tre) Another leading provider is a trader named Binh, who sells live wildlife at his house on Nguyen Hue street, Dong Xoai Town, southern Binh Phuoc province. Binh built a secret warehouse to ensure a large and stable supply to customers, including other traders and restaurant owners. He also installed four cameras around the area for safety reasons. Binh’s employees can slaughter any animal on the spot at the buyers’ requests, as witnessed by Tuoi Tre on a day in late October, when Binh sold a 1-kg java mouse-deer for VND320,000 to a customer who also chose to buy five bamboo rats. An employee took the java mouse-deer out of its cage and then cut its throat with a sharp knife while the pitiful small animal cried. Like Duong, Binh trades in various kinds of wild animals and uses numerous large refrigerators to keep meat fresh while waiting to sell it to customers. On October 25, Tuoi Tre saw many traders and their vehicles gather at Binh’s establishment to buy wild animals and then transport them to other places, including HCMC and Binh Duong Province, for sale. Duong even sells venison on the pavement of a street in Binh Tan District (Photo: Tuoi Tre) Cross-border trade Tuoi Tre arrived at the Xa Mat border gate in Tay Ninh Province, which borders Cambodia to the south west, on October 20, when the reporters contacted several traders who buy live wild animals from Cambodia and transport them into Vietnam for sale. A trader who simply identified himself as Bang said, “As police have recently tightened control, we have to operate more carefully and secretly.” At his house on Nguyen Van Linh Street in the province’s Tan Bien District, Tuoi Tre saw dozens of metal cages full of snakes and other wild animals. “I have bought a king cobra weighing 0.5 kg for VND400,000,” Bang said. Five day later, Tuoi Tre contacted another trader, who called himself Chot, at his trading site in Trung My Tay Ward, District 12, HCMC. Chot told Tuoi Tre that he tries to provide any wild animal of any species to his regular clients according to a door-to-door delivery method, provided buyers agree on the prices he offered. Chot sells king snakes for VND1.8 million per kg and palm civets for VND1.3 million per kg. He has also sold bears, both live and dead. The price of a pair of young bears, weighing 10 kg each, could amount to VND100 million ($4,800), he said. Like Bang, Chot bought animals from Cambodia through a network of providers located there. An Asian palm civet was killed and processed at a wild animal trading site near the Dac O Market, Bu Gia Map District, Binh Phuoc Province (Photo: Tuoi Tre) Inspection On November 1, when asked by Tuoi Tre what authorities have done to prevent the wildlife trade, which impacts many species listed as endangered, rare and precious in the Vietnam Red Book, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, head of the HCMC Forest Protection Sub-Department, said his agency is coordinating with others to investigate the illegal trade mentioned in the newspaper’s investigation. A joint inspection team has been set up and has raided Duong’s trading site in Binh Tan District’s Binh Hung Hoa Ward. Inspectors have seized a porcupine, two Chinese water dragons, a number of snakes, and a large amount of wild boar meat, Cuong said. Meanwhile, Thai Van Chung, chairman of Binh Phuoc’s Dong Xoai town People’s Committee, has ordered local police and market management forces to inspect Binh’s house, as well as the facilities of other wildlife traders in the town. Reports on the inspections must be submitted to the People’s Committee by November 5, Chung said. The owner of a wildlife trading establishment in Da Teh District, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong (Photo: Tuoi Tre)  Tuoi Tre  News