VietNamNet Bridge - Hundreds of white-cheeked gibbons, primates, bears ... which were seriously injured were successfully rescued by the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center and released back to the nature.

Once a person in Dak Lak province went to the market and saw a hunter selling a newborn langur and an old monkey. He bought the animals and several days later, he called the HCM City Forest Protection Bureau. Staff of the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center immediately went to Dak Lak that day to receive the animals.

The trip of a lifetime

The baby langur was transported by motorcycle from Dak Lak to HCM City.

When they arrived, the rescue team found the monkey could still sustain life, while the infant langur was in critical condition.

People said the langur was detained for several days so it ate anything, including rice and bananas. Meanwhile, langurs can digest only leaves.

The rescue team immediately took the baby langur and the old monkey to HCMC. However, when the car arrived at Gia Nghia town, Dak Nong Province, it had a breakdown.

The rescue team bought two scarves to cover the langur and transported it by motorcycle to HCM City. However, in HCM City, the langur was dead two days later although doctors tried their best to save it because the food in its stomach was undigested.

For the old monkey, it was taken care with a special regime for over one year before it was released to the Chu Mom Ray National Park in Kon Tum province.

When the rescue team took the monkey five kilometers deep in the forest, their car could not run because of the rocky road. Rescue workers had to walk for another 5 km to release the monkey.

The rescue team thought that after a period of living away from the mountains, when being released from cage, the monkey would have run straight into the forest but the monkey did not want to leave the team. Rescue workers had to sleep on hammocks until the next morning, when a monkey troop passed, the old monkey joined the others.

"It's the most special trip in my life as a wildlife rescue worker," said Mr. Tran Nhat Tien, deputy director of the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center.

More animals rescued

Releasing a monkey back to the forest.

Since its establishment, Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center has saved 3,285 individuals and released back to the nature 2,343 animals, including many rare species in the world endangered list.

In Ho Chi Minh City alone, the authorities have detected hundreds of cases of illegal trade in wildlife, seizing hundreds of rare animals and releasing them to the National Parks of Nam Cat Tien, U Minh Thuong, U Minh Ha and Nui Chua.

After a time of being taken care by rescue workers, most of the animals were accustomed to people. In many cases, before they were released into the forest, some animals looked at rescue workers like begging to stay with them.

Veterinarian Nguyen Thanh Thai said once people in Ben Tre province trapped wild cats. They killed the mother cat for meat and kept four kittens to feed.

Do not understand how to raise the wild cats; they called the Cu Chi Center for Wildlife Rescue. When rescue workers arrived, two kittens were dead. The two remaining cats were taken to the center.

After almost one year of care, they were released to the Cat Tien National Park. "When they were released, they attached themselves to rescue workers and did not want to leave us," Thai recalled.

People who love animals

Mr. Le Xuan Lam, a representative of Wildlife At Risk (WAR - a non-governmental organization), said in recent years, more people came to wildlife rescue centers to hand over animals since they are aware of their violation of laws and understand the importance of protecting wildlife.

Each year, the Cu Chi Center for Wildlife Rescue attracts thousands of tourists. Mr. Ryan Batchelor and Ms. Lyzanne Pereira, two volunteers from the UK, said they loved animals when they were small. However, when they grew up, they did not have chance to contact with rare animals because the rare animals in England were less and less.

Through the internet, they knew that Vietnam still has many species of rare animals so they applied to work as volunteers at the Cu Chi Center for Wildlife Rescue.

Every day, Ryan Batchelor and Pereira Lyzanne helped rescue workers to feed and play with animals.

Vet Nguyen Thanh Thai said he was previously majored in accounting and used to work for a foreign company. However, with the love for animals, he studied at the Agriculture and Forestry University, majoring in veterinary medicine.

In 2010, after graduation, Thai became a wildlife rescue worker and since then he has saved hundreds of animals.

"My mission is to reach each animal to survey the health situation, to understand the condition to take appropriate care measures," Thai said.

NLD