VietNamNet Bridge – After over one day of investigation, police of the central province of Quang Nam have found out the person who posted the photos that show a group of young men abusing and boiling two endangered monkeys on the Internet.

Wave of indignation raised against the monkey killer





Colonel Phan Ngoc Ngu, deputy director of the Police Agency of Quang Nam province, said that that person is Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, a resident of Ha Lam town in Thang Binh district. However, Quang is now a soldier of the 3rd Corps in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

The site where the monkeys were killed was not verified yet. Gia Lai forest management agency said they did not find evidence to show that the incident occurred in this province.

Quang Nam authorities have immediately contacted Quang’s military unit to ask them conduct a further investigation of the killing of the endangered monkeys.

The Quang Nam police agency also said that Quang will be investigated and punished by the military court and procuracy for his act.

Major General Nguyen Duc Hai, Commander of the 3rd Corps told an online newspaper that the case was being investigated.

“If soldiers of the 3rd Corps were related to this case, we will strictly punish them under the army regulations and under the law,” the general said.

Previously, the online community was in high dudgeon of pictures that show a group of young men abusing and then boiling two endangered monkeys, one of them pregnant.

In the images, the men bound the limbs of the pregnant monkey and forced it to smoke before posing eagerly with the carcasses.

Within hours of the Internet posting, animal rights advocates and others criticized the men and called them inhuman in more than 1,000 comments.




The monkeys are douc langurs (Pygathrix), which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species, according to Professor Vo Quy at the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental at the National University of Hanoi.

Quy said Vietnam has three kinds of douc langurs, red-shanked, gray-shanked, and black-shanked, which typically live in forests stretching from Quang Nam to Kon Tum provinces.

Mr. Trieu Van Luc, vice chief of the National Forest Protection Agency, said that this is a very serious case. Luc left Hanoi to Quang Nam on July 19 to meet with local officials on the case.

Mr. Tran The Lien, head of the Nature Preservation Department under the General Department of Forestry, said he felt indignant at the act. “This is unacceptable act, which must be condemned. Anyone, no matter what who they are, who commits this act, must be criminally penalized,” he said.

Lien added killing douc langurs, which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species, is a serious offence.

According to Article 1990 of the Penal Code, anyone who hunts, kills, transports or trades rare wildlife will be fined from VND5 to 50 million ($250-$2,500), be sentenced up to two  years’ probation or be imprisoned from six months to 3 years or from 2 to 7 years if the crime is committed organizationally.

Compiled by Phuong Lan