VietNamNet Bridge – Being a ferocious species, nearly having no natural enemies, and considered as the symbol of strength, gaurs (Bos gaurus) are still in high danger of getting extinct because they have been the aiming points of the poachers.

Cat Tien National Park is the place where the giant gaurs reside. One could look at the gaurs through binoculars from a distance of 80 meters.

According to the encyclopedia, a gaur is the second biggest mammal on land if considering their size and height, just after elephant. Meanwhile, it ranks the fourth in terms of weight, just to elephant, white rhino and Indian rhino.

When the reporter took some steps ahead, hoping to come closer to the gaurs for better pictures, he was immediately pulled back to the first position.

The reporter then could see through the binoculars the “leading gaur” with fiery eyes. It might feel that there were people somewhere and prepared for an attack.

Chung Giao Duc, the tour guide of the Cat Tien National Park, said two years ago, when he tried to take pictures of a herd of gaurs, he was attacked by a gaur, which injured him seriously. He luckily escaped death, but his health has got worse.

“Gaurs are very aggressive. Bulls would panic when hearing gunshots, but gaurs will not. They will be ready to attack anyone if they discover hunters,” Duc explained.

Being tremendous, flair and ferocious, gaurs almost don’t have any rivals, except tigers. However, only the most robust tigers dare confront gaurs.

Gaurs usually appear on rice and crop fields, damaging watch towers and crops, thus causing big worries to local people. Farmers only go working in the fields in the daytime, while they have to go back home soon in anticipation of the gaurs’ attacks.

Hunting for gaur’s heads

Despite the unconquerable strength, gaurs may still fall because of the bullets from the poachers’ shotguns. They have to yield to humans who have the strength of the weapon. They are also powerless and pitiable like the other good natured animals, like monkeys or birds.

In late January 2003, the public was stirred up by the news that two gaurs in Ea So Sanctuary in Dak Lak province were killed.

In mid-July 2005, two hunters killed another gaur in the same sanctuary. When they were discovered, they attacked the patrolmen, and ran away, leaving the blooding gaur head.

In October 2008, the forest rangers of the Bidoup – Nui Ba National Park caught a group of people carrying a gaur head weighing 18 kilos. This was the head of a gaur weighing 700-800 kilos, belonging to the flock living in the area between the Phuoc Binh and Bidoup – Nui Ba Parks.

In June 2012, a gaur in Nam Nung Sanctuary was killed by a group of hunters in Dak Nong province. In October of the same year, a gaur which got stuck in the Cat Tien National Park area, was attacked by people, who killed it and got meat for sale. Five of the 13 involved people were sentenced to 78 month imprisonment.

In 1970s, Vietnam was believed to have 3,000 gaurs in tens of provinces. In the mid- 1990s, the number decreased to 500 and then to 300 now. They mostly live in the Central Highlands and neighboring provinces. This means that 90 percent of gaurs have been killed within 40 years.

Tien Phong