After many efforts, Bao Ve Rung & Moi Truong (Forest & Environment Protection) reporters managed to get into touch with N, a well known name among wildlife trafficking rings in the north.

When reporters told N over the phone that they were looking for monkeys to process monkey bone glue, N replied that one kilogram of slaughtered frozen monkey was priced at VND300,000. 

“There is no live monkey. You can buy slaughtered frozen monkeys to process bone glue at your house,” N said.

To persuade clients that his monkeys were genuine, not counterfeit, the man promised to show sample products by sending the images of slaughtered monkeys to reporters via Zalo. 

“A monkey must not be like a dog. It must look like a human being as you can see from the images,” he said, adding that a big monkey weighs 5 or 6 kilograms.

N also advertised that he has a chamois skeleton, weighing 14-15 kilograms, with head and hooves intact. 

“If you condense 30 kilograms of monkey, you will need 5-6 kilograms of chamois bone and you will get 5-6 kilograms of glue,” he explained.

When asked about the delivery and payment method, N said it would be better for buyers to come to his storehouse in Nghe An province. If buyers cannot come, he would send via express delivery services. 

N is a big businessman. He said he could provide any wild animal clients want and satisfy all requirements.

“Monkeys are a popular product. I can also provide tiger, rhino horn and elephant tusks,” he said. “You just have to place orders, fresh meat or as a whole, slaughtered animals or bone glue.”

When reporters met N in Nghe An province, he showed his vault of animal bones with the estimated weight of one ton.

Asked if there are tigers in the storehouse, N said: “Tigers are forbidden goods, so I don’t keep tiger bone here. But if you order, I will supply.”

In conversations with reporters, N mentioned Y, a veteran animal bone processor, living in the northern province of Phu Tho.

Y was an experienced illegal hunter in Phu Tho. However, as there are not many wild animals to hunt, he has shifted to another business – processing animal bone glue for sale, or condensing bone as ordered.

“One hundred gram of monkey bone glue is priced at VND500,000. Dried monkeys from Laos and Cambodia are cheaper,” he told buyers.

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Mai Chi