Caged away from her natural home in the forest canopies, her once daily routine of swinging from branch to branch and gliding across the forest in search of fruit, leaves, and insects became a repetitive prison, where she was poked and prodded for entertainment and fed food she was never meant to eat. Tormented day after day for so many years, and with nowhere to hide, Dương started to anxiously rub the hair off her arms and legs as a reaction to stress and depression.
Thankfully, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel for Dương on May 7, 2020, when a good person saw her suffering and reported it to ENV’s Wildlife Crime Hotline. The next day, on May 8th, she was given a second chance to live in peace at Hanoi Wildlife Rescue Center (HWRC).
Dương’s long-term contact with humans means she can never be returned to the forest treetops she was taken from. This devastating reality rings true for most of the wildlife at HWRC. The day they are removed from the wild, marks the point of no return. Either they die within the wildlife trade, or they are saved in the nick of time and given a second chance to live free from human threat within the safety of a rescue center like HWRC.