A recent training course for 40 wildlife and environmental activists has raised professional awareness against wildlife poaching and trafficking in Southeast Asia and especially Vietnam.
The three-day course, which closed in Hanoi on May 25, 2008, brought trainees to the Gio Cung sanctuary of Vooc on the Cat Ba islands, Quang Ninh province. The rare species of white-faced monkeys has been put under tight protection after poaching killed all but just 68 of the species on the island. Vooc has been listed as extremely endangered around the world. Communication director of the WWF Greater Mekong Hoang Minh Hong said the training course was part of a project co-sponsored by the WFF, a global wildlife watchdog, and TRAFFI which monitors wildlife trafficking. The project, executed in association with the Vietnamese Government and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), aimed to raise public awareness against wildlife trafficking and consumption. The training course hopes to change the behaviours of consumers in an effort to curb the trafficking of wildlife products, the biggest threat to the Vietnamese bio-diversity, said Hong. Her views were echoed by Deputy Head of the Environmental Police Department Luong Minh Thao. He said wildlife poaching, trafficking and slaughtering continued to be reckless despite tight controls by responsible agencies. In 2007 alone, the Rangers Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported over 1,200 violation cases, involving a large number of endangered wildlife.
