Vietnamese police charge wildlife trafficker

Jul 28, 2009, 6:40 GMT

   Hanoi - Vietnamese police have charged a restaurant owner with illegally trafficking wild animals, including four endangered grey-shanked Douc langurs, a police official said Tuesday.

   'She was caught red-handed while storing and trafficking wild animals,' said Vu Tien Thu, chief of police in the district of central Binh Dinh Province.

   On June 11, Thu said, police arrested Nguyen Thi Ngoc Loan at her house as she was preparing over 190 kilograms of frozen wild animals for sale to restaurants. The animals included four grey-shanked Douc langurs, 34 kilograms of short-tailed and Assamese macaques and several foxes.

   Thu said police had released Loan on bail after she confessed, but barred her from leaving her residence. Police are investigating who else was involved in the case.

   The grey-shanked Douc langur is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and by Vietnam's government. It is one of the world's 25 most endangered primates and, in Vietnam, has only been found in the five central provinces.

   Eating wild animals is highly popular in Vietnam, where many animals are considered to have medicinal and spiritual qualities. As a result, many local species are on the brink of extinction.