The animals were illegally traded by two traffickers in NgocLac district on September 21. The duo confessed that they bought the civetsfrom hunters.
The animals were seriously injured in their legs, one of them in very badcondition. They are receiving treatment at the Cuc Phuong's Endangered PrimateRescue Centre (EPRC).
Nguyen Van Thai, director of the centre, said that the park is coordinating withthe centre in expanding a breeding programme aiming to preserve Owston'spalm civets and release them to the nature later.
Abreeding area to conserve civets will be built on an area of nearly 1 hectare in Cuc Phuong National Park. When operational, it can keep up to 50individuals of Owston's palm civets, enabling 6-10 individuals to be releasedto the nature each year.
Owston's palm civet is native to Vietnam, Laos andsouthern China. It is listed as Endangered by IUCN because of an ongoingpopulation decline, estimated to be more than 50% over the last threegenerations, inferred from over-exploitation, habitat destruction anddegradation./.