Red-listed Animals Rescued from Hunters in Central Vietnam

Forest rangers in Phong Nha - Ke Bang national park in this central province have captured a group of poachers and rescued some red-listed wild animals from their traps. The park's forest rangers succeeded in rescuing five common palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), four keeled box turtles (Cuora mouhoti), a Chinese ferret badger (Melogale moschata) and a silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera). All are listed as threatened species in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The rangers also found meat and bones of wild animals in the hunters' packs. Three of the hunters were held, along with 900 steel strings used as trapping tools. It is the first time in many years that the rangers have managed to capture poachers in the park. A day earlier, a resident of the province's Bo Trach District voluntarily handed over a 2.5kg male and a 2kg female rhesus macaque (Macaca mulata)— listed as of ‘least concern' in the IUCN red list -- to the park authority. The park's veterinary staff is rehabilitating the animals to help them regain their natural instincts before releasing them into the wild. (http://vietnamnews.vn/ Oct 12)