Wild Trade Vietnam

A Graphic Gallery:
Illegal Trafficking & Sustainable Options

Photos by Dr Stephan Gorzula

This special selection of photos by Dr Gorzula cover issues in sustainable management of reptile species. Significantly, one facility is reported to have rescued bears. These photos from a field trip to Vietnam in 1995. These farms breed rare animals which can be sold after two generations in captivity.

See also a Photoessay: Forest Protection in Lam Dong Province in 1997 by Stefan Gorzula, Al Picardi and Vu~ Ho^`ng.

Stefan Jan Filip GORZULA
614 West Main Street
Newbern, Tennessee 38059
Telephone/fax: +1 901 627 3133
E-mail: <gorzula@ecsis.net>

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THUMBNAIL

DESCRIPTION
Dr Gorzula is seated in front at the left. His teacher and friends surround him.


Location:Nui Bao quan, Vung Tao (Ba Ria - Vung Tao Province)
Date: November, 1995
Credit: Stefan Gorzula


Pit viper (Trimeresurus sp.)


Location: Dong Tam Snake Farm, 10 km west of My Tho
Date: June, 1995
Credit: Stefan Gorzula

Banded krait (Bungarus sp.)


Location: Dong Tam Snake Farm, 10 km west of My Tho
Date: June, 1995
Credit: Stefan Gorzula


At top is a specimen of Monocled cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) The lower photo is of a specimen of King cobra (Naja kaouthia)


Location: Dong Tam Snake Farm, 10 km west of My Tho (
Date: June, 1995
Credit: Stefan Gorzula



Three photos from Bao Ngu Crocodile Breeding Farm in Ho Chi Minh City. at the top is the Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus, middle, Mr Pham Van Muoi, bottom the freshwater crocodile, C. siamensis.


Location: Bao Ngu Crocodile Breeding Farm, Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City
Date: October, 1995
Credit: Stefan Gorzula


These photos show at least three adult asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus) held at the Bao Ngu Crocodile Breeding Farm. Aside from the medicinal properties reputed to be in bear gall extract, bear paw is a well-known delicacy in restaurants.


Location: Bao Ngu Crocodile Breeding Farm, Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City
Date: October, 1995
Credit: Stefan Gorzula

Reference:

Environmental Impact Assessment, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Action Plan, Indigenous Peoples Development Plan for Dai Ninh Hydroelectric Project, Socialist Republic of Vietnam INTERIM REPORT. Prepared by Power Investigation & Design Company No. 2, and C. Lotti & Associati, Rome, for the World Bank in Ho Chi Minh City, July 1995, 32 p + 6 annexes.

Associated Article:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/newsletter/news151b.htm

CROCODILE SPECIALIST GROUP NEWSLETTER VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1996 - MARCH 1996 --- WWW Edition IUCN--The World Conservation Union Species Survival Commission

CROCODILES IN THE NEWS. Wildlife experts have warned that rare local crocodiles are in danger of extinction. The warning was issued at a seminar in October to promote the preservation and development of crocodiles sponsored by the HCM City Forestry Department. Most of the danger could be attributed to illegal poaching and the unqualified breeding of the two rare local species the Crocodylus porosus and the C. siamesis. Massive crossbreeding with the Cuban C. rhombifer species had threatened the local breed. The abdomen skin of two rare local species sell at between US$6 and $8 a centimeter and the meat between $4.5 and $6 a kilo on the world market. The belly skin of a Cuban crocodile sells for between $1 and $2.45 a centimeter. A kilo of the reptile's meat fetches about the same.-Vietnam News Service 3 October 1995, submitted by Mark Bezuijen, Project Tomistoma, Wildlife Management International Pty. Ltd. PO Box 530, Karama, NT 0812, Australia.

VIETNAM SITE REPORT. Stephan Gorzula recently visited Vietnam as team leader on an Environmental Impact Assessment of a hydropower plan for the Southern Highlands and took a little time to look at the crocodile situation. He teamed up with new CSG contact Mr. Pham Van Muoi and visited crocodile farms around Ho Chi Minh City and an area of the Mekong delta where there are still some wild saltwater crocodiles. Stephan inspected six farms and reports that although each farm was slightly different, he was impressed with the health of the crocodiles. Obviously the Vietnamese are breeding and raising crocodiles successfully. He also reported seeing scores, if not hundreds, of juvenile crocodiles that are reportedly the offspring of C. siamensis and hybrids with C. rhombifer (i.e., F1 hybrids backcrossed to pure siamensis). Stephan comments, "I personally do not see escapes as being a threat to Southeast Asian crocodiles. The surrounding land is all farmed and the waterways heavily fished (I qualify this by saying that if these were Caiman crocodilus I would be very worried indeed!). What I see as the issue is that the Vietnamese have put a lot of time and effort into setting up these installations. The replacement of the hybrids with local stock would take some years. It should be phased in, but there should be some legal mechanisms by which the hides of the hybrids could be traded internationally."

[Editors note: hybrids are treated by CITES as the same Appendix listing as their most endangered parent (Resolution Conference 2.13), therefore these hybrids would be treated as Appendix I. They could theoretically be traded under the provisions of the captive bred specimens (Res. Conf. 2.12 and 8.15) if the facilities in which they were captive bred met the criteria for registration (Res. Conf. 8.15)]

Prepared by Vern Weitzel <vern@coombs.anu.edu.au>
Australia Vietnam Science-Technology Link