With king cobra trafficking cases appearing regularly in the Vietnamese news of late, ENV held a timely seminar this past weekend to educate our wildlife protection volunteer network in Ho Chi Minh City about the king cobra.
Recognized as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the king cobra is often traded for its meat, skin and bile for use in traditional medicines and remaining populations across Asia are in decline. The species is listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which controls trade through the use of permits and maximum export quotas.
ENV’s seminar focused on enhancing our volunteers’ knowledge about the species and encouraging them to become actively involved in wildlife protection activities. The participants learned about the identification, ecology and behavior of the king cobra and received an overview of the king cobra trafficking headlines and cases across Vietnam over the last few months.
After the seminar, volunteers eagerly signed up to practice their wildlife crime detection skills by going out to monitor, identify and report on wildlife crime cases for ENV.
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