According to the park’sdirector Tran Xuan Cuong, the five men were captured earlier this week withfive homemade guns.
They were caught in theforest with two dead langurs, a live wild pig, bones of other wild pigs andtrapping equipment.
Cuong said the men camefrom the province’s mountainous Tuong Duong district and travelled to Con Cuongdistrict, where the park is based, to hunt the animals, carrying guns andknives.
The dead langurs were ofthe Phayre’s langur species, which is listed as endangered by the InternationalUnion for Conversation of Nature (IUCN). The mammal is endemic to SoutheastAsia.
Park authorities havetransferred the men to local police for further investigation.
Vietnamese law prohibitsthe hunting, killing, caging as well as transporting and trading of wildanimals. The severity of the penalty depends on the ranking of the affectedcreatures in IUCN’s red book.
According to the park,local rangers are working closely with Save Vietnam’s Wildlife to patrol thejungle and reduce illegal hunting and poaching.-VNA