Illegal logging is rampant at Cuc Phuong National Park despite "the best" efforts of forest rangers.
 
Cuc Phuong National Park spreads across three northern provinces of Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa, covering over 22,000 hectares. It is the first national park in Vietnam, is rich in biodiversity and home to many endangered animals. 

However, in the past months, parts of the park in Thanh Yen Commune, Thanh Hoa Province have been destroyed by illegal loggers. Near the forest edge, huge trees were chopped down and next to them is a timber cutting site. The loggers chose random locations that are hundreds of metres away from each other to take down the trees in order to avoid the forest rangers. 

The situation hasn't improved despite the forest rangers installing check-points on the routes to the forest.
 
Truong Thanh Dai, chairman of Thanh Yen Commune, said at least eight huge trees had been cut down recently. He said, "The local authorities have increased management and pinpoint the hot spots but the loggers are also becoming more sophisticated about how they operate."

According to the deputy head of Thanh Hoa Forest Ranger Unit Le Quoc Viet, the province has 3,910 hectares of the national park and 2,044 hectares are in Thach Thanh District's Thanh Yen Commune. They have discovered two logging cases already since the start of November. Cuc Phuong Forest Ranger Unit is investigating the cases with forest ranger units in Thach Thanh District and Thanh Yen and Thanh My communes.

Viet went on to say that loggers from other districts came and worked with the locals to destroy the forest. The authorities of Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh provinces haven't been able to make common regulations on co-ordination so any collaboration is limited.