VietNamNet Bridge - Pu Mat National Park has always been a ‘hot spot’ of illegal poaching for many years. But local authorities say that measures to control poaching are not effective.

On January 11, Pu Mat forest rangers and the Anti Poaching Team made an inspection tour to Ward 787 A in Chau Khe commune in Con Cuong district in the national park’s core area, and discovered self-modified hunting guns, five knives, and one live wild boar which was released later to the forest, four dried legs of wild boar and two dead langurs (Trachypithecus phayrey) weighing 8.7 kilograms.

Trachypithecus phayrey is an endangered, rare species of wild animal that needs strict protection. 

The police found that Lo Van Hang from Tuong Duong district killed the two langurs with his gun. He is facing a one to five year sentence in jail.

Just two weeks before, in late December, the national park’s forest rangers discovered seven individuals with nine self-modified hunting guns, and dried monkeys and flying squirrels. The violators were fined VND36 million.

Two illegal poaching cases were discovered by local forest rangers and policemen recently. Nghe An newspaper reported that in 2018, forest rangers seized 27 hunting guns of different kinds and removed more than 3,000 traps.

A report on Asian elephants at Pu Mat National Park from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources showed that since 1995, dozens of elephants in Nghe An have been shot or killed by land mines. 

In 1996, people in Cao Veu and Phuc Son communes laid mines to kill three elephants. A few years later, local authorities discovered two male elephants that had been killed for their ivory tusks. 

In March 2011, an adult male elephant was murdered in the area between Thanh Chuong and Anh Son districts.

A representative of Pu Mat National Park told reporters that Tam Hop, Tam Quang and Tam Dinh in Tuong Duong district, Chau Khe commune of Con Cuong district and Mon Son commune, where Dan Lai ethnic minority people live, are the areas most attacked by illegal poachers.

The representative said that it was very difficult to protect Pu Mat. Under current regulations, each forest ranger has to take care of 500 hectares of forest. But with 94,000 hectares and 87 officers, each officer has to be responsible for 1,000 hectares. 

Illegal poachers are mostly men who were born and grew up in the locality who know every corner of the area and can easily escape forest rangers. 

The people live in poor conditions and have low awareness about the need to protect forests. They are the biggest culprits in wildlife poaching cases.

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