VietNamNet Bridge – Eagle, the bird listed in the Red Book, has been traded in the open air at tens of millions of dong for each.

The eagle’s reproduction season would be in March, but the eagle market has become bustling already. Hai O, a well-known eagle trader in Binh Hung Hoa cemetery area in Binh Tan district, proudly said he has sold nearly 100 eagles over the last three years.

“All the eagles I got could be sold the next days. The demand is always very high,” O said.

About the eagle prices, O said the prices differ depending on the stature and health of eagles. In general, the eagles brought from the Central Highlands are relatively expensive, about VND7 million dong for each weighing 1.3 kilos and a wingspan of one meter.

He explained that it is very difficult to “go through check stations” to bring eagles to the city for sale. Therefore, the eagles from Central Highlands are expensive.

Also according to O, young eagles were sold at just VND2 million dong for each two or three years ago. However, the price has jumped to VND4-7 million.

“Raising eagles is now in fashion. Eagles would be sold to the “big guys” who would give predatory skills training to the birds, or put the birds into cages.

Reporters have found out that a lot of people get involved in the “eagle ring.” Dung is one of the best known eagle traders in HCM City. He is present everyday on the 3/2 Road in district 10 to receive the clients who want to buy eagles.

“Forest rangers these days tighten their control over the illegal hunting. Therefore, we only display birds there at 11am to 1pm every day to avoid them,” Dung explained.

He affirmed that the eagles available there are the best and the cheapest. He has a relative in Lam Dong province who usually sends birds to him for sale in HCM City.

Saigonese whisper in each others’ ears that it’d be better to contact prestigious dealers, or they would be dwindled and would be sold sea eagle or hawk.

Du, a big wildlife dealer in Binh Tan district, also said that the demand is very high, and the supply sometimes cannot meet the demand.

“I usually have to advance money to the merchants who buy eagles directly from hunters in the Central Highlands,” Du, the man who has been trading wildlife for the last tens of years, said.

He said that the products come from different sources, mostly from the Central Highlands (Dak Lak), and from the border area with Cambodia.

“The eagle’s reproduction season would be in March, but young bird is still priced at no less than VND4 million,” said.

Dung, another well-known dealer in Binh Chanh district, also said he brought eagles from the Central Highlands and sometimes from the mountainous areas in the north. Eagles mostly live in primeval forests, where there are towering mountains. Therefore, it sometimes takes hunters tens of days to catch eagles. If they are lucky, they can trap eagles in the reproduction season.

Saigonese have been breeding eagles and training them for the last several years, ignoring the fact that eagle is a wildlife named in the Red Book which needs to be protected from getting exhausted.

In fact, competent agencies and authorities remain puzzled and they don’t know how to treat the people breeding eagles.

VTC