VietNamNet Bridge - A man posts a photo of himself with two plucked hornbills (Bucerotidae), asking if anyone wants to join him to have a party with the birds. Other men show via livestream how they slaughter a monkey.


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Truong Quoc Hien, head of the police station in Hoa Hai commune of Huong Khe district in Ha Tinh province, on November 27 confirmed that he interrogated the subjects in the monkey slaughtering case.

It is still unclear if it was either a monkey or a red shanked douc langur which was put under special protection.

The men included Phan Hoi, 35, Thai Van Sang, 41, Thai Dinh Quy, 61, Thai Quang, 58 and Dang Van Bien, 35.

A man posts a photo of himself with two plucked hornbills (Bucerotidae), asking if anyone wants to join him to have a party with the birds. Other men show via livestream how they slaughter a monkey.

Hoi said he found the monkey in a bag on the Ho Chi Minh Highway on November 16 and invited his friends to eat the monkey.

Nguyen Quang Hao, head of the Huong Khe district Forest Rangers’ Unit, confirmed that the unit will join forces with the police for an investigation. He also said it would take more time to investigate if the animal was a monkey or a red shanked douc.

On the same day, the policemen of Cu Chi district in HCM City summoned BNT, the man holding two hornbills. 

T confirmed that after posting the image on Facebook, he received harsh criticism from the public.

T said the picture was taken in Tan Chau district of Tay Ninh province. “When I dropped it into a tea shop, I was invited by some local men to buy the birds. I just took a picture with the birds. I did not buy and eat them,” he said.

Arguments still continue if the birds belong rare and precious species. T denied that these were precious birds, saying that each bird was priced at VND120,000 only.

However, Vu Ngoc Long, chair of the Science Council of the Southern Ecology Institute, believes one of the two birds was a hornbill.

Long said he saw this species of birds several times and he believes this is a rare and precious bird. However, further analyses will still be needed for a final conclusion.

Long, who has witnessed the destruction of wild animals many times, blames it on loose management.

“A market of wild animals has existed for years in Long An province, which is near the two Ramsar sites of Lang Sen and Tram Chim. Red Book birds were sometimes discovered there,” he said.


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