A small trader from Nga Bay Town in Hau Giang Province advertises a king cobra on sale for VND 4 million (USD 238), offering blood she says can be ingested to treat incurable diseases.
The trader is confident that there will be many takers for such offers, because they feed off the widespread belief that the blood and flesh of wild creatures have therapeutic effects.
The high demand for such speciality meat is pushing the population of rare wildlife species to new lows.
Both live animals and their meat are sold illegally and openly at markets that spring up spontaneously all over the Mekong Delta and the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.
Hunting, trading and consumption of rare wildlife species are strictly prohibited under the Vietnam Environment Protection Law and Law on Forest Protection and Development.
Near the entrance to Nga Bay Town’s People’s Committee office, a wholesale wildlife market by the roadside has apparently been established for years.
Nga Bay, which means intersection of seven roads, is a town connecting seven waterways to many provinces in the Mekong Delta, making it a hub for wildlife trade in the area.
Supplies to the market come from the provinces of Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, An Giang and Kien Giang, and from neighboring country Cambodia.
The market, having no official name, sells the animals to restaurants or individuals from nearby provinces, Ho Chi Minh City and some southeastern provinces.
A xe om (motorbike taxi) driver in the area says the market only opens on weekends to avoid park rangers. On weekdays, customers have to go to the small traders’ houses in the nearby village.
Abundant supply
A trader at the roadside market said she sold various kinds of snakes, including the bocourt water snake (Enhydris bocourti) and cobras.
“The bocourt water snake’s price is VND 270,000 (USD 16) per kilogram, while black cobras range between VND 400,000 (USD 24) and VND 500,000 (USD 30) per kilogram,” she said.
At another stall, a trader advertised a banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus) for VND 2 million (USD 119).
“You should have its raw gall bladder and blood,” she said. “It’s really nutritious and can cure all diseases. You can also store its body in alcohol to drink for its therapeutic effects.” She also offered to sell various wild animals, including different kinds of snakes, turtles and wild birds.
She said she had just sold five kilograms of turtle to a restaurant in Can Tho City and three kilograms of cobra to someone from Soc Trang Province.
“I have many suppliers from rural areas. They hunt the animals in the forests and always sell their catches here.”
Another trader said one could get more choices in a nearby residential area, where they hid the animals.
A local said most people in the area were wildlife traders.
“You could buy dozens of kilograms of snake or turtle,” said trader Nguyen Thi Kieu. “But you should carry less than five kilograms at a time to avoid being caught by park rangers.”
She said around 30 hunters from other provinces frequented her house daily to sell their catch.
Trader Sau Kieu said customers who want to buy rare species like the king cobra have to reserve for them around a month in advance.
Rare seizures
In August, 2008 park rangers found a large amount of wild animals being smuggled in a van going through Cai Tac Town in Chau Thanh A District, Hau Giang Province.
They seized 37 kilograms of rare snakes, 1.6 kilograms of turtles and 55 spotted turtle doves (Streptopelia chinensis).
A week earlier, rangers had found Luong Van Minh and Nguyen Thi Huong from Nga Bay Town each with more than 10 kilograms of turtles and 15 kilograms of snakes.
However, the head of Hau Giang Province’s market management office said it was just the tip of an iceberg.
“It’s hard to stop them because most smugglers use motorbikes and carry small amounts,” he said. “Sometimes, they even pack the animals and carry them on buses.”
Readily available
Wild animals and their meat are also abundant at a roadside market in the central Thua Thien-Hue Province, where supplies come from A Luoi and Binh Dien forests.
They are sold in dozens of houses and stalls on the road in the Cau Tuan area connecting Hue City and A Luoi District.
A trader there said the meat at the front stalls were just for introduction, and more meat and wild animals were kept in their houses.
In her backyard, she showed a number of monkeys, wildcats, musk-cats and wild boars.