11 cross-bred gaurs which have been left staving in Ninh Thuan Province have just been transferred to Phuoc Binh National Park.

The animals which belonged to a national-level conservation project thanks to its rare gene have been abandoned until their poor condition was recently reported on local media.

As the story of the dying rare gaurs received lots of attention from the public, authorities of Ninh Thuan Province have directed related agencies to carry out a health check for the animals and feed them.

According to local authorities, the animals were allocated to the Lam Dong Centre for Application of Science & Technology in 2015 to carry out research on the cross-bred gaurs to determine the potential of gene preservation and growth.

The centre's director, Nguyen Nhu Chuong, said that the project which was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with funding of VND5 billion (USD217,391) ended in June 2019 and since then they lacked money to support the animals.

"Since the project ended, we could only spend VND10 million (USD435) a month to take care of the 11 gaurs," he said.

Chuong said that they sent a medical worker to check the animals' health every month but they were found to have been kept in a 200-square-metre cage and many are on the verge of starving to death.

A local farmer, Nguyen Dinh Tich, who has been hired by the centre to take care of the gaurs over recent years said that the animals have been fed with dried rice straw and water.

"I didn't have enough food for them due to a lack of money," he said. "They have been losing weight and falling ill. They include five males and five females but there have been no baby gaurs born during the past five years."

Nguyen Cong Van, director of Phuoc Binh National Park, said that the 11 gaurs need at least VND80 million in food each month.

"While waiting to move the gaurs to the park, we are still hiring Nguyen Dinh Tich to take care of the gaurs together with two of our staff," Van said. "Some of the gaurs have diseases and may die. We're still trying to cure them. Meanwhile, we're building an area covering 5-10 ha for them at the park."

The Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee said they had sent VND 100 million to the national park to help save the gaurs. Dtinews

Rescuing malnourished crossbreed gaurs in Ninh Thuan

Ten crossbred gaurs (F1) found in Ninh Thuan province are seriously malnourished and may die at any time if the situation does not improve.