Bao Ve Rung Va Moi Truong reporters recently reached the Thanh Hoa wild bird market late in the afternoon and were ‘received warmly’ by D.N, the owner of a restaurant. 

D.N. is famous in the locality for her bird and snake slaughtering skills.

When reporters asked to purchase a stork (anastomus oscitans), the woman took a trembling stork from an iron cage and struck the stork with an iron pole. 

While the stork kicked convulsively, D.N turned on a mini gas cooker. Just after one minute, the white and grey-feathered stork was baked, turning brown-yellow, and then sold to customers.

Some minutes later, a driver stopped and said he wanted some birds. D.N. immediately took some of the birds being hung backwards and began plucking them. The birds tried to escape.

“The birds need to be plucked when they are alive. If so, their meat will be very delicious,” D.N. explained.

After the plucking ended, the restaurant’s owner put all the birds on a fire. The birds still were crying for help before they died.

Just after delivering the birds to the customer, D.N. received another guest who asked to buy a snake. She immediately caught a snake and put into a basin, and then poured boiled water into the basin and began the slaughter.

D.N.’s shop is the most crowded and bustling shop in the locality, though there are tens of other shops nearby. This was because of the reputation and the skills of the owner.

The shop is particularly crowded in the afternoon, when families gather there for dinners and drinkers come.

D.N. is a successful businesswoman. She has introduced many products, including co oc (anastomus oscitans) to giang sen (mycteria leucocephala), ga nuoc (gallicrex cinerea) and young eagle.

“All of them are caught from the wild, VND300,000 per kilogram of meat,” D.N. said, adding that she supplies wild birds and animals to many restaurants in HCMC and even luxury restaurants from the north in Hanoi, Vinh Phuc and Ha Nam. 

She said that she also has rare and precious birds such as owls, eagles and young birds.

In the past, Thanh Hoa wild bird market was a small farm produce market which sold goods to drivers or travelers. Now, it is the largest bird market in the south.

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