Green Options

Two frozen tigers have been seized by environmental authorities near Hanoi.

Hanoi police made a horrifying discovery when they stopped a taxi in the central province of Thanh Hoa: The frozen carcasses of two tigers.

A comprehensive survey to gather genetic data about the last Javan rhino population in Vietnam kicks off in November 2009.

WWF announced today that a comprehensive survey of Cat Tien’s Javan rhino population will begin next month and continue until April 2010. The purpose of the study is to gather urgently needed genetic data in order to develop a local conservation management strategy for these critically endangered mammals.

It is estimated that there no more than five individuals of this rare Javan rhino subspecies (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) still surviving in Vietnam’s Cat Tien National Park.

Well-funded poaching syndicates are cashing in on Asia’s demand for rhino horn - and jeopardizing decades of rhino conservation efforts in South Africa.

The reason behind the current 15-year high in rhino poaching is no longer a mystery or “baffling” to experts: It is fueled by the insatiable demands of a newly affluent - and increasing - population in Asia.

Commercial rhino poaching has become a well-oiled machine - and the “new Asian wealth” is bankrolling the slaughter.

Authorities in central Khanh Hoa Province have rescued and released 849 critically endangered hawksbill turtles.

Good news: 849 hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) were rescued last week from a farm in Bich Dam Hamlet in Nha Trang City.

Vietnamese customs officials found approximately four tons of endangered pangolin scales smuggled into Hai Phong Port from Indonesia.

A suspicious waybill was behind the discovery of four tons of illegal pangolin scales in a container that was marked as dried seaweed. There were also two tons of tortoise shells in another container - supposedly containing dried tuna stomach.

Conservation experts estimate that the Vietnamese appetite for wildlife is responsible for increasing the country’s endangered species list from 300 to nearly 1,000 animals.

Fortunately, Vietnamese conservationists are stepping in before the country’s vulnerable species are “eaten to extinction.”

And for the first time ever, Vietnam’s Central Committee for Communication and Education (CCCE) held a conference entitled “Protecting Wild Animals to Contribute to the Sustainable Preservation of Natural Resources in Vietnam” at the Ninh Binh Province’s Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve. The event called for enforcement of strict measures against the country’s illegal animal trade, and discussed ways to protect wildlife and sustainably preserve natural resources in the country.

Unrestricted expansion of rubber tree plantations in South East Asia could lead to “devastating environmental effects”, according to authors Ziegler, Fox and Xu writing in a May, 2009 perspective article in Science.

Throughout the “montane” (foot hill and low mountainous) mainland of South East Asia (inclusive of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and China), rubber plantations are expanding. So far, an estimated half million hectares have been planted, and by 2050, that land mass area could triple. This expansion will come at a cost to broad leaf, evergreen forests and “swidden” areas (with vegetation from older slash and burn efforts).

Earlier this month, Environmental Police in Vietnam found a frozen tiger and tiger bones in the back of a taxi cab. The tiger seems to have been a young one recently killed and the bones were of two adults, according to an expert at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR).

Zimbabwe is currently home to the world’s fourth largest population of critically endangered Black Rhino. Although rhino killings in Zimbabwe have more than doubled in the past year, poachers continue to walk away without punishment for their crimes.

In a recent IRF press release, rhino conservation experts called upon international agencies and the Zimbabwe government to take immediate action against poaching of endangered species and to crack down on trade in wildlife products.

Tackling the situation in Zimbabwe is especially challenging because the rhino poaching in this area is planned and carried out by organized gangs. The attacks have become increasingly brazen - not only are rhinos being slaughtered, but the criminals have begun firing at the people protecting them.

Earlier this year, Raoul du Toit warned that Zimbabwe’s rhino poachers were not villagers desperate for food, but organized criminal gangs - people with “cars, cell phones, and expensive lawyers.”

And when poachers are apprehended, they are not punished.

In yet another shocking example of the large-scale illegal wildlife trade throughout Asia, the frozen carcass of a baby tiger was found in the trunk of a taxi cab on its way to a buyer in Hanoi.

It was reported that two men were arrested for attempting to transport the baby tiger carcass - along with the bones of at least two tigers - and that the “case showed the possibility of larger-scale tiger trafficking in the country.” The baby tiger was between four and five months old.

Driven by the demand in long-standing illegal wildlife markets throughout Asia, the tiger population in Vietnam is nearly gone. It is estimated that fewer than 200 tigers remain in the Truong Son Mountain Range.

Tigers are often hunted by locals living in poverty in Truong Son areas. In major cities, where illegal wildlife trade is active, tiger parts, meat, skin, and bones command high prices.

Inside Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam, a rare subspecies of the critically endangered Javan Rhino still survives. Once thought to be extinct, it is estimated that there are only 3 - 5 of these delicate creatures left in the world. The Cat Tien rhinos have endured ruthless slaughter for their horns and annihilation of their habitat. Now there is yet another threat to their tenuous chances of continued survival.

Plans to build a power plant at the edge of the rhinos’ habitat have been approved by the Lam Dong administration. The plant’s dam will be slightly less than two miles from the Javan Rhino reserve. An estimated 1,000 tons of explosives will be used for clearing forested areas near the reserve. Construction is expected to take three years. And even clean energy - such as wind turbines - can have adverse affects on surrounding wildlife (and humans), if not properly sited.