Wild Trade Vietnam

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THUMBNAIL	DESCRIPTION
	This shop in Central Vietnam offers to buy cac loai thu rung or all kinds of forest mammals. The list also includes: snake (ran), frog (ech), turtle (rua), tortoise (ba ba), weasel (chon), monitor lizard (ky da), boa (tran), armadillo (trut), otter (rai ca), and (macaque) monkey (khi) as well as ca loc a kind of fresh water fish and luon eel. It is illegal to purchase most of these animals; those which can be sold legally must be purchased from a reputable breeder. Location: Tran Cao Van Road, Tam Ky, Quang Nam Province Date: February, 1998 Credit: Vu Ngoc Thanh
	This restaurant in Buon Ma Thuot advertises thu rung or forest animals. This is a both illegal and very dangerous for the survival of wildlife in this southern part of the Central Highlands which has come under significant environmental pressure. Location: Buon Ma Thuot, Dak Lak Province Date: January, 1997 Credit: Vu Ngoc Thanh
	This restaurant serves venison of the sambar deer (nai) Cervus unicolor and "forest pig" Sus scrofa and undefined varieties of birds chim. It is alleged that these species come directly from the forest. Along with wild food, are more conventional frogs, snails, and seafood. Snails (oc) are a common pest in Vietnam's paddy fields and are a popular food for the rural poor and an environmentally sensitive way to control these crop predators. The featured menu item lau is sometimes called a steamboat, in this cas, goat meat is cooked in broth on the dinner table. Location: Qui Nhon, Binh Dinh Province Date: January, 1997 Credit: Vu Ngoc Thanh
	This is a scene in the well-known snake meat restaurant, Phong Do Le Mat in the Hanoi suburb of Gia Lam. Snake farming was a traditional activity in Gia Lam, which I visited in 1989. Dr Ha Dinh Duc guided Roger Cox, Radoslaw Ratajszczak down a narrow lane to a family patio containing meter-wide round pots containing snakes. In recent years the family built a large restaurant and shop selling a variety of wild foods and medicines. Phong Do Le Mat specialises in meals in which snake is prepared in at least ten ways. There is also a ritual in which a technician opens the snake at the table, removes the beating heart and gall bladder which are put in a cup of strong rice wine to be drunk by the guest of honour. It was a little dinner-time drama that reminded me of most of my first frog dissection. Here, Professor Le Hung Lam (right) Dean of the School of Public Health shows me, the guest of honour, a snake that is about to become a meal. During the meal, Prof. Lam lectured on the medicinal value of vegetables eaten with ten different dishes we ate, which were made from this animal. Prof. Lam, values traditional medicines, but admits that his wife who studied medicine in France, prefers modern pharmacology. On leaving, Prof. Lam bought a bottle containing a snake preserved in alcohol, claiming it helps with pain from an old war wound. While the owners of Le Mat indicate that its snakes are all from farms, other restaurants in Gia Lam openly advertise wild meat. A number of animals preserved in alcohol were sold in Phong Do Le Mat: birds, salamanders and snakes. I did not have time to identify them. Location: Gia Lam, Hanoi Date: October, 1994 Credit: Mr Nguyen Huy Quang
	This photo from Rick Smolan's book and CD-ROM "Passage to Vietnam" shows the Vietnamese breed of dogs most commonly used for food. Although some foreigners find eating dogmeat repugnant, use of dogs as food is quite widespread in the world. Because they are omnivorous, dogs are excellent recyclers of scraps, converting otherwise unuseable material into food. This makes dogs a thoughtful food source for the environmentally minded. It also makes sense for poorer people as an alternative to that other scrap eater, the chicken. The main breed used in cooking is this medium-sized, short-haired animal with a wary expression. The wire cages in which these animals are being transported are commonly used in Vietnam to carry chickens and ducks, rabbits or other small animals. Location: Hanoi Date: 1995 Credit: P.F. Bentley
	Just to demonstrate the value of dog meat, here I am with Professor Nguyen Van Thuong (far laft) and some of the staff of Ba Vi National Park at a dog meat restaurant at son Tay, near Hanoi. Dog is served in a variety of traditional recipes with vegetables or as a sausage. Like most Vietnamese foods, it is worth a try. My wife, who is from Son Tay, cooks very good dog meat. Mr Vu Ngoc Thanh tells me that dog should be eaten with a little strong wine because, it is a 'silly food'. Perhaps this is true as well. I realise that this will offend some dog lovers who read this page. My point is this is a normal meal to many people, particularly the rural poor. Of course, some Vietnamese prefer not to eat dog and perhaps the most healthy people are vegetarian. Location:Son Tay, Ha Tay Province Date: March 4, 1993 Credit:Restaurant owner
	By contrast I came across this restaurant while walking in Hanoi. The caged animals are sitting in the sun outside a restaurant which served them as food. The selling of snakes is not unusual nor are they necessarily illegal. Rural people often bicycle into town with with a load of snakes for sale. Their signs say ran ban or 'snake sale' are draped over the wire cages. And as you see above, snakes can be served in many ways. But civets are another matter. The bottom photo is a close-up of the civet, which I beleive is the the relatively common palm civet (cay voi dom) Paradoxurus hermaphroditus. If this animal was captured from the forest, as is likely, it is illegal to sell it. If this animal is the product of captive breeding over two generations, it can be sold to the table trade. The languishing appearance of the animalis partly because, like most civets, the palm civet is a nocturnal hunter and frugivore. Though not as common as other foods, Vietnam has a cuisine which includes civets. It is said that connoiseurs can distinguish the flesh of different species and the meat is said to be good. The flesh of the Indian civet (cay huong) Viverricula indica is sometimes said to 'smell like a young woman' - which I believe is a complementary appelation. Civets are under threat in Vietnam. Proper management will be necessary to assure their survival. Some are seriously endangerd, among them the binturong (cay muc) Arctictis binturong, Owston's palm civet cay van bac Chirotogale owstoni, the spotted linsang (cay gcaym) Prionodon pardicolor and the otter-civet (cay rai ca) Cynogale bennettii. None of these species should be considered as food items. This article appeared shortly after these photos were taken. No "Wild" menu HANOI - All establishments in Hanoi, including restaurants, that deal in wild animals and birds have had to cease such operations as of July 15, 1995. According to Nguyen Van Oanh, head of the Hanoi forestry control service, businesses that deal with wild animals and birds must first be registered with the city's forest control service. Illegal dealing of any kind will invite severe punishment, he said, adding that a campaign was on to protect wildlife and their habitat. [Vietnam News 21 July 1995 p. 3] Location: No 2 Tue Tinh, near Hue and Nguyen Du streets, Hanoi Date: March, 1995 Credit: Vern Weitzel

Prepared by Vern Weitzel <vern@coombs.anu.edu.au>
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