Accepting rare and precious wild individuals

Within just a few days, many wild animals were discovered by people, reported to the authorities and voluntarily handed over with the wish to be released back into the natural, wild environment according to their habits and life experiences. This is truly a good thing after many efforts of the forest rangers and authorities in propagating and raising people's awareness in preserving the lives of wild animals.

Recently, on April 16, Mr. Le Phuoc in Binh Tien Commune (Huong Tra Town) discovered a Central Vietnam yellow-fronted box turtle crawling into his garden. Seeing its beautiful and strange shape, Mr. Phuoc suspected that this was a rare and precious turtle species, so he immediately reported it to the forest rangers via the hotline. Upon receiving the report, the forest rangers arrived at the scene and confirmed that this was an endangered species that needed to be strictly preserved and protected. A few days later, this turtle was released back into the wild.

According to Mr. Phuoc, not only rare and endangered wildlife species but also common wildlife species need to be strictly protected and preserved. If protection is not effective, animal hunting will continue to occur, and common animals will also become scarce and endangered in the near future. This will affect the survival of wild animals, wildlife species and even human life.

On the same day, Mr. Le Lua in Loc Binh commune (Phu Loc) discovered a red-faced monkey in his garden. Through identification, especially the red face, Mr. Lua immediately knew that this was a rare and precious red-faced monkey as advertised in books and newspapers, so he immediately reported it to the authorities. This rare and precious monkey was then captured, cared for and released back into the wild by local forest rangers in coordination with local people.

Mr. Le Lua shared that at one time, he did not know about the precious, rare, and endangered wildlife species that needed to be preserved, and only thought they were common animals. After the local government and forest rangers propagandized and raised awareness about species protection, Mr. Phuoc truly understood and joined hands with the functional forces to preserve wildlife.

In just the first days of April, 7-8 rare and endangered wildlife were discovered by local people and voluntarily handed over to authorities with the wish to release them back to their natural habitat. On April 9, Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Huyen in Xuan Phu Ward (Hue City) handed over a grey-backed barn owl, scientifically named Tytoalba, weighing 0.7 kg. Three days later, the Hue City Forest Protection Department coordinated with Tien Phong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. to release this individual back to the natural environment.

On April 12, Mr. Dang Hoai Phuong in Kim Long Ward ( Hue City) handed over two Central Vietnam box turtles (scientific name Cuora bourreti) weighing 1.5 kg each. On the same day, the Hue City Forest Protection Department handed over the python to the Vietnam Center for Conservation of Natural Resources and Rescue of Animals and Plants for release into the wild. This python was received from a resident who voluntarily surrendered it.

Since the beginning of the year, through the hotline of the Provincial Forest Protection Department, the authorities have received about 15 rare and endangered wildlife animals voluntarily surrendered by people. Most of the animals were in normal health condition, and were then released back into the wild by the forest protection force in coordination with the authorities.

The head of the provincial Forest Protection Department, Mr. Le Ngoc Tuan, said that the community and residents play an important role in the conservation and protection of wildlife. In recent times, the forestry sector, together with domestic and foreign conservation organizations, has organized many activities to raise public awareness in the conservation and protection of wildlife. The awareness of the people and the community has since changed positively, contributing to the conservation of wildlife with the authorities.

In early April, the Provincial Forest Protection Department coordinated with the Provincial VFBC Project Management Board, WWF-Vietnam and the University of Agriculture and Forestry to organize a seminar on student action for wildlife. This activity aims to raise awareness and understanding of students about biodiversity and wildlife. From there, promote the role and responsibility of students in cutting off the wildlife meat consumption chain, contributing to biodiversity conservation in Thua Thien Hue in particular and Vietnam in general.

At the same time, at Bach Ma National Park (QGBM), the Forestry Department coordinated with the Department of Education and Training of Hue City, Tran Cao Van Secondary School and Thong Nhat Secondary School to pilot the integration of extracurricular programs with wildlife experience activities.

Coming to the National Park, the students were guided to experience the forest with routes to conquer Hai Vong Dai and Do Quyen waterfall. At the same time, they were introduced to a lot of information about biodiversity, endangered, precious and rare wildlife species in the National Park; were guided on forest experience, survival skills of forest rangers when doing conservation work, monitoring wildlife with camera traps... In particular, the students witnessed and met Mr. Truong Cam, who has many skills of whistling to imitate bird sounds with his mouth to "call birds", thereby raising awareness and understanding of conservation and protection of wildlife.

Article and photos: The Hung