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Vietnam Cracks Down on Illegal Wildlife Trade
“The campaign today is our warning shot to illegal wildlife traders that Lam Dong province will not condone wildlife violators anymore.”
- Mr. Tran Thanh Binh, head of Lam Dong Forest Protection Department
Vietnam authorities arrested more than a dozen restaurant owners for planning to serve meals of pangolins, porcupines, mouse deer, monitor lizards, bears, snakes, and other rare animals—amounting to more than 850 pounds of meat.
Criminal prosecutions are in store for the wholesaler who was supplying the restaurants with the unlawful wildlife goods. A larger investigation is also underway to determine where the animals were captured and what trading networks were involved in transporting and selling them.
“The detection and prosecution of restaurants illegally serving wildlife is a critical step in the battle for wildlife conservation in Vietnam,” said Mr. Tran Thanh Binh, head of Lam Dong Forest Protection Department.