Preserving Wild Life

The Cuc Phuong Animal Refuge Center is the only place in
Vietnam built and equipped with facilities to save animals
and preserve genes of rare and precious species.

By Diep Hoa

Hoang Van Thuan vice director of the Cuc Phuong National
Park, said that the Center was created thanks to a postage
stamp. A German scientist came across a stamp with the
picture of a white-bottomed gibbon, an animal considered to
be nearly extinct worldwide on a letter from Vietnam which
he took to the Frankfurt Association of Animals. Later,
efforts were made to look for that particular animal and the
centre was created as a result. The centre is simply a row
of houses for experts, and has two cages with grilles made
of iron, about twenty square meters in size. The cages
contain rare and precious species of primates which are, in
evolutionary terms. very close I to humans. Some look quite
taciturn, others seem to get excited when visitors approach
the cases.

Many wounded animals have been saved and taken care of here.
The centre helps animals not only in Cuc Phuong, but also
from many other places when necessary. While looking at
these animals -- jumping in such big cases --I could not help
wondering which was their best home: the forest or these
man-made cases. I thought of zoos where they were kept in
cages and disturbed by visitors. Zoos are helpful for us to
see animals, but such confinement seems ill-suited for
animals. Some people say that forests are so badly destroyed
and that many animals become extinct because of human
interference. Because of this people believe that animals
should be preserved in places like zoos; assuming that they
can survive in confinement. Otherwise they will likely be
killed in forests by poachers.

This belief was also held by David Hulse, chief
representative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), who said:
"WWF contends to work right on the spot. Our contention is
to set free highly-endangered animals so that they can
return to their natural environment."

We wish to discover and studs them to preserve their genes
but we cannot protect them or create an environment as
favourable for them as their natural habitat where they were
born and grew up Some argue that they cannot escape from
hunters. But, as Hulse said, this is not a sound argument.
He reasoned that, when animals are caught and confined, for
whatever purpose, it entails driving them to the edge of
extinction. The best way to prevent the extinction of rare
and precious animals is to strengthen the protection and
management of forests and to enforce the strict application
of laws together with public promotional campaigns. Only
when deforestation and poaching is stopped will rare and
precious animals be safe. The solution is expensive and
time-consuming, but it will work more effectively in the
long run.

Source: Saigon Times 20-26 July, 1996 p.16