The Education for Nature - Vietnam (ENV) on August 22 released a short film to call for people’s efforts to put an end to rhino massacres in Africa and protect the animal (Photo: ENV)Hanoi (VNA) – The Education for Nature - Vietnam (ENV), a non-governmentalorganisation on the reservation of the nature and the protection of theenvironment, on August 22 released a short film to call for people’s efforts toput an end to rhino massacres in Africa and protect the animal.
The filmwill be screened on Vietnam’s television as well as on ENV’s Youtube channel.
The last Java rhino in Vietnam was killed atCat Tien National Park in 2010.
Increasing poaching is attributable to therising demand for rhino horn in some Asian countries, including Vietnam, as well trafficking activities byglobal crime networks since manypeople in these nations believe that rhino horns can cure illnesses, which isrefuted by science.
In March, a jail term was imposed on a Vietnamese national for smuggling36kg of rhino horn. He was the mastermind of a ring trafficking rhino horns,elephant tusks and products of wild animals from Africa to Vietnam.
Statistics show that there are only 25,000 wildrhinos in the world at present, dropping by 95 percent over the last 40 years.
South Africa is home to about 20,000 rhinos or80 percent of the global total. Up to 1,028 rhinos were poached there in 2017,down slightly by 26 compared to the previous year. According to theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature, the animal will become extinct by2026 if poaching is not halted.
Deputy Director of ENV Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung calledon Vietnamese people to protect the remaining rhinos in a bid to recover rhinopopulation. Activities related to rhino horn trafficking should be reported tolocal authorities or via hotline 1800-1522, she added.-VNA
