Police raided the central province of Thua Thien-Hue’s largest illegal wild animal store on Thursday, seizing 200 kilograms of wild animals, some of them whole and alive.
Among the animals were two live boars and a dead boar, weighing 150 kilograms in total. An eight-kilogram golden monkey from Africa was also found.
Tortoise, musk cat, copperhead and water dragon (physignathus) parts were also found.
Nguyen Thi Mai, 45, owner of the two-story shop, was keeping live animals in cages and storing dead animals and their parts in tubs and refrigerators.
Provincial officials had been watching Mai’s house ever since local residents tipped them off recently.
According to the officials, the store has been major supplier of wild animals to restaurants in the province as well as in nearby Quang Tri Province and Da Nang.
The dead animals will be transferred to the province Department of Forest Management. Those still alive will be returned to forests, officials said.
Bui Ngoc Long