Vietnamese zoo auctioned tiger bodies to traffickers: newspaper

Jan 10, 2008, 11:07 GMT

Hanoi - A zoo in the Vietnamese capital has admitted to auctioning the bodies of two tigers to wildlife traffickers who were arrested in a raid this week, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The report was a new twist in the case of a major wildlife trafficking ring that was found with two live, sedated tigers in the back seat of a car and four frozen tiger bodies in a country where buying and selling the endangered big cats is illegal.

Dang Gia Tung, deputy director of the Hanoi Zoo, told Tien Phong newspaper that zoo officials held two auctions for the bodies of the tigers, which died of disease, to raise money for the facility.

The winner of both auctions, Nguyen Quoc Truong, has said he paid 150 million dong (about 10,000 dollars) and 120 million dong (about 8,000 dollars) for the carcasses, Tien Phong reported Thursday.

Truong, who was arrested Monday night, said he had receipts of the sales, according to the paper.

On Monday, police raided a house in Hanoi where they found four frozen tiger bodies - included the two auctioned by the zoo.

Police also seized two live tigers that had been sedated and stuffed into bags that were being transported in the back seat of a car.

It was unclear Thursday whether anyone at the Hanoi Zoo would face charges. Officials at the zoo could not be reached Thursday.

Tung told Tien Phong that the zoo never sold live tigers.

Trading in endangered species is subject to a prison term of up to seven years and a cash fine of up to 20 million dong (1,250 dollars) under Vietnamese law.

Authorities had been tracking the suspected trafficking operation for at least two months, and arrested five other people in the raid on Monday night, according to local media.

In addition to the tigers, police also seized two elephant tusks, a rhinoceros horn and about 16 kilograms of animal bone ground into a paste, Lao Dong reported.

Officers also seized a shotgun and two kilns used for making paste out of animal bones, used in many traditional medicines.

'Tiger paste' made from boiled tiger bones is believed by many Vietnamese to heal the bones of the elderly and can sell for as much as 5,000 dollars a kilogram on the black market.

Only a few hundred wild tigers remain in Vietnam's forests.