Lots of rescue cases and global workshops

Many wild animals were saved due to the development in law enforcement, in total of 61 individuals seized from five illegal trades within one month. Despite the tight workload from rescuing numerous animals, three of SVW staff attended global events which were amazing opportunities for them to build their capacities, and for the world to hear about what we are doing to save Vietnam’s precious wildlife. In addition, we have scheduled a workshop about the conservation of the Endangered Owston’s Civet in early 2019 and many more education programs are being operated in long-term.

Five rescue cases in a month, 61 animals being saved

The series of workshops that SVW recently held across Nghe An Province appeared to lead to an increase in law enforcement measures against the illegal wildlife trade, with two recent seizures of wildlife being made in Nghe An Province.

The first seizure occurred on 19th October and resulted in SVW rescuing a 15kg Burmese Python from Ky Son District. This animal has some serious injury on its nose. The second seizure occurred on the 25th October to rescue 5 pangolins, 15 Big-headed Turtles, and 9 Southern Asian Leaf Turtles that were confiscated by the Police from Anh Son the previous night. Unfortunately, by the time Pu Mat staff arrived, one pangolin had already died, and the second one died three days later as a result of the poor conditions that they had been kept in. These animals were transported to the Pu Mat Wildlife Rescue Centre and are currently undergoing rehabilitation and quarantine.

At the Wildlife Rescue Center in Cuc Phuong National Park, we received 29 pangolins (included one Chinese pangolin) from three wildlife crime cases confiscated by the Police of Thanh Hoa, Lang Son, and Quang Nam Province. Sadly, one Sunda pangolin had died before our team had arrived. The rest of alive pangolins are under intensive care by the vet and keepers at the center.

Owston's Civet Planning Workshop in 2019

Owston's Civet Planning Workshop is scheduled for 1st to 4th April 2019

This will be the first international meeting for Owston's Civet and it comes at a critical time for the Endangered species. Owston’s Civet is the endangered species which populate only in some areas of Laos and Vietnam. However, the population is rapidly decreasing due to hunting activities and habitat loss over the past few years.

Therefore, the workshop’s main objective is to produce a conservation plan that will highlight what actions are needed to prevent its decline to Critically Endangered. This workshop is possible due to generous funding from Whitley Conservation Trust, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Friends of Tallinn Zoo and Ocean Park Conservation Fund. Thank you also to EAZA's Small Carnivore Taxon Advisory Group for their support.

More education and outreach programs are being conducted to raise people awareness and interest in wildlife conservation

Valuing Nature in Childhood Program

Van Phuong Kindergarten and Cuc Phuong Kindergarten started Valuing Nature in Childhood Program (VNCP) season 3, the academic year 2018-2019, with more than 120 kids, 12 teachers and parents in these two kindergartens. The innovations in teaching methods and visual learning materials, such as name tags with animal illustrations and storytelling box, not only help teachers and parents to interact more with children, but also enhance the creative experience to help the children remember our educational messages longer. In addition, "Đi và Khám Phá" fanpage, written in Vietnamese, was recently established to provide knowledge, information, and images of our conservation education activities to children, families, schools, and the Vietnamese local communities concerned about the flora and fauna.

“Protect the Wildlife We Love” Program

Designed based on the Valuing Nature in Childhood program, ‘Protect the Wildlife We Love’ program is an upgrade to give a deeper knowledge to 8 – 10-year-old children from practical experience in nature. The detailed content of the nature experience program has been completed. We have started writing and illustrating the ‘Discovery Book’, which is an exciting visual learning material to help children remember the knowledge gathered from all day activities. Furthermore, the book will become a meaningful souvenir for the children to share their experiences with their friends and families. The launching workshop of this program is scheduled in late November. The program will officially begin shortly after.

Mobile Exhibition in reducing consumer demand for wildlife product

This mobile exhibition is expected as a leading project of SVW's demand reduction program in the future. Aiming to minimize illegal wildlife consumption, the exhibition will give the audience a panoramic picture through the story of the Pika Pangolin's in the journey to return home.

There are 20-feet (6 x 2.5 x 2.5 m) five containers, where visitors will have a chance to experience from the beauty of nature, the horrific threats to wildlife, how those threats affect the wildlife, a bright future of the wildlife saved and how everyone can give a hand in saving wildlife.

One outdoor area contains an interactive role play game and a photo booth. There is also a souvenir booth that people can get postcard, keychain or a bookstory to bring home.

The exhibition is expected to launch in 2019. We will keep you posted on the progress.

For who may be interested in funding this promised project, please contact us.

The Vietnamese version of our new website is getting done

The website http:/svw.vn/ is 90% completed with the Vietnamese version. We created the Vietnamese version for local people to get information about Vietnam’s beautiful wildlife and how to get involved in conservation activities. However, we came across some website technical issues that we are calling for a professional volunteer in Wordpress website developing to support us. We provide food and accommodation, plus transport fee (from Hanoi and nearby provinces in Vietnam to Cuc Phuong National Park) to the volunteer.

Please share the opportunity with your friends and acquaintance or apply for yourself.

Contact us at: nhu@svw.vn

Strengthening the staff’s capacity

October is the month of learning and sharing. Our staff had great chances to attend global conferences, workshops, and training to strengthen their capacity and skills, not only to support themselves but for the whole team back home.

Joint EAZWV/AAZV/Leibniz-IZW Conference

Hai, our Vet, got an opportunity to attend the biggest Zoo and Wildlife Health Conference in the world. That was Joint EAZWV/AAZV/Leibniz-IZW Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. Hai was the only person amongst six sponsored delegates who got both grants from American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Spending six days with 650 experts, vets and conservationists from all over the world, Hai has learned a lot of valuable experiences. Hai also presented about SVW’s success and challenge when working with rare animals such as Owston’s civet and pangolin; hence, Hai has expanded his network and got some promising collaborations to support SVW.

Global Youth Biodiversity Network’s Workshop

Nga, our  Education Outreach Officer, participated in the capacity building workshop for Asia organized by the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN). Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) is an international network (founded by United Nations convention of biological diversity) that connect young people to prevent the biodiversity loss. As the only representative from Vietnam, along with 24 other young people from countries in Asia, Nga has learned a lot of knowledge and skills about conservation education. On her return, Nga hopes to spread the passion and enthusiasm of the Global Biodiversity Network (GYBN) to young Vietnamese, contribute to conservation in her hometown Ninh Binh and to Vietnam.

2018 IZE conference

Phuong, the Education and Outreach Officer who joined SVW since the beginning, attended the largest conference on conservation education – 2018 IZE conference, at Al Ain Zoo, UAE. Phuong presented our education program ‘Valuing Nature in Childhood’ - the program for children aged five to discover nature. Phuong is one of seven sponsored delegates and the only Vietnamese delegate at the conference. Phuong has learned more about international conservation standards, gained knowledge and experience from leading conservation educators, and some new ideas to implement future conservation education projects.

Training Program on adjudication of cases relating to crimes against protected wildlife under the penal code 2015, as amended in 2017

The Supreme People’s Court in collaboration with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized the program, in Ha Long City. SVW was invited to attend, present, and contribute to the success of the program.

The experts presented the current situation of smuggling wildlife with sophisticated and dangerous. The issue is affecting the national security, natural resources and the health of the people, as well as the reputation of Vietnam. Thereby, the more provisions of the criminal code 2017 (valid from 1st Jan 2018) was guided and received high agreement from most delegates.

Reducing in poaching activities in Pu Mat National Park

In the patrolling trip in October, Anti-poaching Team found only 40 camps and 53 traps, half of the number compare to the previous month while the team conducted a similar amount of time in patrolling. That’s a sign that the poaching activities may be decreasing. Details of the report is below.

Organization Donors

Individual Donors