VietNamNet Bridge - Bao meo (Prionailurus) that appear on the middle alluvial grounds of the Red River are often caught and sold to wildlife specialty restaurants.

Bao meo appear on Van Khe and Thach Da alluvial soils

Local residents affirm that they see the precious animals on Van Khe and Thach Da alluvial soils in Me Linh district in the suburbs of Hanoi and nowhere else. 

In the past, the animals gathered mostly on Thach Da, but the heavy rains and landslide have prompted them to evacuate to Van Khe.

The thick plants on the alluvium soil, fresh water holes, numerous mice and few travelers have proven to be the ideal environment for prionailurus. Therefore, the animals have been multiplying.

Though the animals have been growing rapidly in the locality, where they find favorable conditions, they may leave once they feel they are in danger as more and more people try to kill them.

Sometimes, when bao meo cannot find food nearby, they even enter residential quarters to catch fowl. Sometimes people come across prionailurus which hunt for mice and immediately organize campaigns to chase the prionailurus.

Small and weak animals will be rejected by restaurants, while big animals will be either sold to the local restaurants or slaughtered by hunters for their favorite meals.

According to Pham Van Son, an old local man, the rare and precious animal was first caught some years ago. However, as people did not know what the animal was, they decided to bring it to Hanoi Zoo. However, since they were given low pay for it, they chose to sell the animals they caught to traders, though they knew the animals would be slaughtered.

Some local young men also said they saw precious animals sometimes. Tran Nhu Tuyet, one of the men, said he once caught a bao meo and tried to breed it.

“When I caught it, it was small, about 5 kilos. It was a type of strange animal and was funny looking. I decided to breed it, and feed it with mice I could trap,” he said.

“It only ate fresh meat and it never ate dead mice. It also ate fresh pork and beef. It needed one mouse, or several hundreds of grams of meat,” he said.

However, Tuyet finally decided to give up breeding, because he could not hunt enough mice to feed the animal.

Tien, another young man, said some days ago he saw eight men who caught a group of bao meo. The men set free small bao meo and only retained the two biggest. A trader wanted to buy the couple of bao meo at VND3 million.

Son said he fears bao meo may disappear in Van Khe. Though the animals have been growing rapidly in the locality, where they find favorable conditions, they may leave once they feel they are in danger as more and more people try to kill them.


VTC