Sea turtles found in a woldlife trafficking case. Vietnam has made great strides in the fight against wildlife crime. (Photo: ENV)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has made great strides in thefight against wildlife crime, said Bui Thi Ha, Deputy Director of Education forNature Vietnam (ENV), a non-governmental organisation on the reservation ofnature and the protection of the environment.
She made the remark ahead of the London 2018Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, which will be held in the UK in October.
Ha said the revised 2015 Penal Code, which tookeffect earlier this year, has begun to show its significance in Vietnam’s wildlifeprotection. The law has erased legal loopholes, imposed stricter punishments onserious violations, and served as the legal foundation for authorities tohandle wildlife crime.
In November 2016, Vietnam destroyed 2.1 tonnesof elephant tusks in Hanoi for the first time, demonstrating the country’scommitments to the destruction of tusks and rhino horns seized in illegalsmuggling cases.
In early 2017, the northern border Lao Caiprovince destroyed 43 elephant tusks.
This year, a 13-month jail term was imposedon Nguyen Mau Chien, the mastermind of a ring trafficking wild animal products fromAfrica to Vietnam, while Hoang Tuan Hai got a 4.5-year sentence in prison forsmuggling over 10 tonnes of sea turtles in Khanh Hoa central coastal province.
Vietnam has made efforts to prohibit tradingactivities on rhino horns, meanwhile the country is also seeking measures tostop the illegal trading of tigers and control the number of tigers in privateestablishments.
The ENV said some possible solutions includethe closure of websites advertising the trading of endangered animals and moreinvestigations into smugglers to arrest and impose appropriate punishments.
Recently, many captive moon bears were voluntarilyhanded over to authorised agencies. The number of unlawfully-kept bearsnationwide declined from 4,300 in 2005 to stand at about 780 as of September2018.–VNA
