On Saturday, as part of our ongoing series of public awareness activities, we hosted two wildlife trade exhibits at Hoa Binh Park (Hanoi) and Saigon Zoo (Ho Chi Minh City). The educational exhibits focused on the threats faced by Vietnam’s wildlife and encouraged participants to take an active role in wildlife protection. Hundreds of people who live around the park came and joined us. From children and families to young couples, participants had the chance to do our wildlife trade quiz and share their thoughts about the use of tiger-bone issue in Vietnam.
“Tiger-bone glue is not a magical medicine that can cure all types of diseases. We should go to hospital if we need a health check, rather than using tiger-bone glue,” said a 20-year-old woman at the exhibit. “I will tell my relatives and neighbors not to use tiger-bone glue because it’s illegal. I think that tiger protection in particular and wildlife protection in general are the shared responsibilities of society as a whole. Protecting wild animals means protecting our nature, our life and our future.”
Our Hanoi Wildlife Protection Volunteers Network spent their Sunday morning learning about leopard cats at a seminar entitled “Leopard cats – not your pets”. Our volunteers really got stuck into our wildlife trade key word games and everyone enjoyed testing out their knowledge of wildlife protection in Vietnam. After the seminar, volunteers spread out to practice monitoring skills and check for wildlife violations at 20 different establishments in Hanoi.