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Vietnam Wildlife Trafficking Arrests Rise, After COVID-19 Link to Animals

VOA News

   After scientists determined that the coronavirus likely spread from an
   animal to a human, there came a flurry of statements from nations
   around Asia promising to ban the trafficking of animals. Now there is
   data to suggest that authorities, at least in Vietnam, are following
   through with enforcing the bans.

   Among the cases of trafficked wildlife that was seized in Vietnam, the
   percent that led to arrests reached 97% in the first half of this year,
   according to Education for Nature Vietnam, an environmental
   organization.From 2015 to 2019, the number had remained steady at
   around 87%.

   Scientists believe the pandemicmay havebegunafterhuman contact with an
   infected bat or pangolin in China.Vietnam and other Southeast Asian
   nations act as a frequent conduit for illicit animal products that end
   up in China. In recent years police have seized pangolins,ascaly mammal
   that resemblesarmadillos, as well as endangered turtles, gibbons, and
   langurs in Vietnam.

   'More serious'

   "ENV's prosecution analysis attests to the strength of the current
   penal code and the elevated efforts of Vietnam's law enforcement and
   criminal justice courts to take down wildlife criminals," BuiThiHa, the
   vice director of Education for Nature Vietnamsaid, referringto the
   penal code that was revised in 2018. "Since the new law has been in
   force, and especially this year in 2020, evidence shows that wildlife
   trafficking crimes are being taken more seriously in Vietnam."

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