A man in Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam, has handed a pig-tailed macaque to local forest rangers, along with some similar handovers by other locals, as a move to contribute to protecting rare and endangered wild animals.

Doan Van Len, a 43-year-old resident in District 7, transferred the macaque to the municipal Forest Protection Department on Saturday.

“This monkey has been raised by my brother for 12 years. It is a rare wild animal.

“I now want to hand it over to the relevant agency so that it can be released back to its natural habitat,” Len said.

The pig-tailed macaque, with scientific name Macaca leonine, is a male monkey weighing about 10 kilograms, belonging to the endangered, rare and precious wildlife species of group IIB needed to be protected under a decree issued by the central government in 2019.

One of the red-eared turtles handed over by a resident to Ho Chi Minh City’s forest rangers is seen in this image. Photo: Ngoc Khai / Tuoi Tre

Rangers anaesthetized the monkey and brought it to the city’s Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center for necessary care before releasing it back to nature. 

On the same day, the department also received and brought to the center in Cu Chi a red-faced monkey and a yellow mountain turtle that had been handed over by two residents in Thu Duc City.

These animals also belong to group IIB as aforementioned.

Also on Saturday, another resident in District 7 volunteered to transfer three red-eared slider turtles to the department after buying them from an animal vendor.

As these turtles are classified as harmful invasive alien species, the agency will destroy them in accordance with applicable regulations.

Transporting, trading, capturing or killing wild animals or parts thereof is a criminal offense in Vietnam punishable by between six months and 12 years in prison, according to the Penal Code.

Since 1994, Vietnam has been a party of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), is an international agreement between governments with an aim to protect endangered plants and animals.

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