Nguyen Dinh Xuan, Director of the Lo GoXa Mat National Park in the south-western border province of Tay Ninh, received a prize for bear protection from the city of Bern,Switzerland in Hanoi on April 20.
Nguyen Thi Van Anh, coordinator of the Programme on WildlifeProtection under the Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), said Xuan hasmade tireless efforts in calling for due punishment of illegal beartourism in Ha Long, in the northern province of Quang Ninh.
He has contacted authorities in the Republic of Korea to ask forcoordination in educating RoK tourists on the law on bear protection inVietnam in an effort to prevent them from violating the law duringtheir travel in the Southeast Asian country.
Xuan has worked with mass media agencies to raise public awareness,both at home and abroad, on the conservation of bears and other rarewildlife species. He has regularly sent petitions to National Assemblydeputies and other Vietnamese authorities to ask for help in solving theproblem.
Bern city has a long history of relations with bears. The animalnot only symbolise the city on its flag and coat of arms, but the nameof the city itself means ‘bear.’
Bern mayor Alexander Tschaeppaer said the city saw it necessary torecognise Xuan’s contributions to bear protection in Vietnamthrough this prize and expected that bear conservation in the tropicalcountry would receive more and stronger assistance from theinternational community.
Statistics released by the Vietnam Forest Rangers Department showedthat there are some 4,000 bears currently being kept in cages, with themajority having been caught in the wild. Vietnamese people’s strongbelief in the bear’s gall as a medical treatment against numerousdiseases has caused a major threat to the rare animal.
Xuan underscored that caged bears are not only unable to reproduce,but they face a high risk of disease and higher mortality rates.
He warned that the capture of bears for their gall bladders hasthreatened the animal to extinction in Vietnam and prompted rampanthunting in neighbouring countries.
Gall extraction violates both Vietnamese law and the Convention onInternational Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).
ENV is a non-Governmental organisation, established in 2000 to promoteenvironmental education in Vietnam./.
Nguyen Thi Van Anh, coordinator of the Programme on WildlifeProtection under the Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), said Xuan hasmade tireless efforts in calling for due punishment of illegal beartourism in Ha Long, in the northern province of Quang Ninh.
He has contacted authorities in the Republic of Korea to ask forcoordination in educating RoK tourists on the law on bear protection inVietnam in an effort to prevent them from violating the law duringtheir travel in the Southeast Asian country.
Xuan has worked with mass media agencies to raise public awareness,both at home and abroad, on the conservation of bears and other rarewildlife species. He has regularly sent petitions to National Assemblydeputies and other Vietnamese authorities to ask for help in solving theproblem.
Bern city has a long history of relations with bears. The animalnot only symbolise the city on its flag and coat of arms, but the nameof the city itself means ‘bear.’
Bern mayor Alexander Tschaeppaer said the city saw it necessary torecognise Xuan’s contributions to bear protection in Vietnamthrough this prize and expected that bear conservation in the tropicalcountry would receive more and stronger assistance from theinternational community.
Statistics released by the Vietnam Forest Rangers Department showedthat there are some 4,000 bears currently being kept in cages, with themajority having been caught in the wild. Vietnamese people’s strongbelief in the bear’s gall as a medical treatment against numerousdiseases has caused a major threat to the rare animal.
Xuan underscored that caged bears are not only unable to reproduce,but they face a high risk of disease and higher mortality rates.
He warned that the capture of bears for their gall bladders hasthreatened the animal to extinction in Vietnam and prompted rampanthunting in neighbouring countries.
Gall extraction violates both Vietnamese law and the Convention onInternational Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).
ENV is a non-Governmental organisation, established in 2000 to promoteenvironmental education in Vietnam./.
