VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Thanh Tu, 56, a retired border soldier, has spent eight years searching for and protecting Hatinh langurs living in mountainous areas in Dong Hoa Commune in the coastal central province of Quang Binh.

Nguyen Thanh Tu (left) has spent eight years protecting Hatinh langurs.— Photo danviet.vn

Tu said he officially retired in 2012 after nearly three decades of working hard as a border soldier.

One day, when Tu recalled that during his childhood he and his friends took cows to the foot of a local mountain and often saw langurs in tree branches, he got the idea of going to the mountain to search for the langurs.

He searched for them alone month after month but he failed. He thought it was a desperate situation and he nearly gave up.

Not longer after, when he lay down at a rock in the mountain, he suddenly saw about 10 langurs playing with each other among the tree branches, Dan Viet online newspaper reported.

The retired border solider immediately realised that were actually Hatinh langurs (Trachypithecus hatinhensis) – named as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list.

Before retiring, Tu attended training courses for border soldiers to identify endangered and endemic species, he said.

Voluntary protection

The story actually began when Tu decided to voluntarily protect the langurs from being hunted by poachers.

During days of watching and protecting the langurs, Tu found Nguyen Van Hong, a resident of Dong Hoa Commune and a skilled hunter, who could kill the langurs at any time.

Tu tried to meet Hong.

He explained to Hong that the langur was an endangered species, named to both international and Vietnamese red lists. The langur is protected by law so that hunting them is illegal.

At first, Hong rejected those words. Hong argued that he earns his living by hunting.

But Tu still clung to a fragile hope and tried to persuade Hong to stop hunting.

Then, one day, Hong went to the mountain to hunt the langurs. Two langurs, one female and one male were trapped. When the female langur died, the male langur hugged the dead animal with his sorrowful eyes.

“The moment still haunts me,” he said.

A Hatinh langur.— Photo Tuan GreenViet

The moment and the words of Tu made Hong change his mind. He quit hunting and participated in protecting the langurs with Tu. Hong’s family income now mainly depends on farming.

The pair teamed up to not only protect the langurs but also to take care of them. On dry days, Tu and Hong also took water to the mountain for the langurs.

Hong said many people told him that he already performed a thankless task because no-one hired or paid them.

But Hong said, “Tu and I voluntarily really want to do the job.” They wanted to contribute a small thing to endangered-species protection.

Thanks to the protection of Tu and Hong, the number of langurs in the commune is now much higher than in 2012.

Tu said that since the number of langurs was increasing, many langur protectionists in the world came and see him in his house. They came to see and record images of the langurs for documentaries.

However, Tu still has great concern for the safety of the langurs.

According to Tu, people are still allowed to freely visit the area where the langurs live. It poses risks to the langurs.

“Recently, I found a person taking his gun with the aim to hunt langurs,” he said.

The people only stopped when Tu informed local police.

Therefore, Tu said he really hoped the local administration quickly rezoned the area where the langurs were living in order to set up a small conservation area for the species in the coming time.

In March 2016, Tu was awarded the certificate of merit from the Government for his untired contributions to langur protection in the province.

In May 2018, the provincial Forest Management Department gave a certificate of merit to Hong for his protection of the langurs. 

Source: VNS