Authorities in central Quang Binh Province last Friday prosecuted two men for killing the goat-antelope Indochinese serow, which is listed as a near threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Hunter Sang revisited the hunting site with prosecutors. — Photo phapluatplus.vn

Doan Thanh Binh, an officer in the Forest Rangers Department in the province’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, said Tran Van Hoan, 26, and Nguyen Van Sang, 24, were prosecuted for violating the Vietnamese Penal Code for killing wild animals in protected areas.

Earlier this month, park rangers caught Hoan and Sang, both residents of Phong Nha Township in Bo Trach District, killing an Indochinese serow for its meat inside the park.

Hoàn escaped from the scene, but after one week turned himself in at a local police station. The rangers weighed the butchered Indochinese serow and estimated the mammal was about 58kg. They also seized the hunters’ traps and tools.

Indochinese serow, which has the scientific name of Capricornis milneedwardsii maritimus, is a species native to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. The mammal is listed on the red list of IUCN due to a decrease in its population caused by its narrowing habitat and being hunted for its meat and antlers.

Phong Nha Township, located in a buffer zone near the park, houses many residents who made their livings from hunting and tree logging, prior to the rise of tourism at local cave systems, which lifted the local economy. — VNS