Vietnam poacher arrested in killing of rare monkeys

Jul 14, 2010, 6:05 GMT

Hanoi - Forestry officials in central Vietnam have arrested a man accused of killing nine endangered langur monkeys in the second such suspected poaching case in a week, a forestry official said Wednesday.

'This is the third case of hunting or transporting langurs in our province this year,' said Nguyen Dai Phu, director of the Bu Gia Map National Forest in the central province of Binh Phuoc.

The officials found the bodies of nine black-shanked douc langurs ready to be dried for preservation in a tent near the forest and arrested Sung A Cho, 32.

Two other men escaped arrest while the officials recovered two rifles and ammunition.

Cho would be handed over to police, Phu said.

Last week, police in the central province of Khanh Hoa arrested three men accused of killing seven langurs.

Black-shanked douc langurs are on the red list of critically endangered species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation, and are on Vietnam's own national red list.

Many officially endangered animals are hunted for their flesh and body parts in Vietnam, where they are widely believed to have medicinal and spiritual value.