Man fined for keeping endangered bird in central Vietnam
Wildlife protection officers in the central province of Nghe An have fined a local man VND5.25 million (US$235) for keeping an endangered bird illegally.
Nghe An Park Rangers found the black kite (Milvus migrans), a rare medium-sized bird of prey, in Chu Van Cuong's house during a raid last week.
Cuong, 27, was investigated after he posted several graphic pictures on his Facebook page, showing a neighbor slaughtering six monkeys.
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| The black kite seized at Chu Van Cuong's house in Nghe An Province. |
The man responsible for the slaughtering, Le Ba Thuan, 50, has been fined VND12.75 million for buying and killing the protected animals.
Thuan confessed that he bought the monkeys for VND3 million and killed them, together with 12 cats, to make a glue-like product, which some people believe can have medicinal properties.
The case was detected after the environment protection group Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) reported to local authorities that it had seen terrifying photos of many monkeys being killed.
Le Ngoc Huu, chief park ranger of Hoang Mai District in Nghe An, said they could not connect the case to any organized wildlife trafficking ring.
