A Malayan bear which had been kept in a tourism site in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong was handed over to FOUR PAWS Viet on November 16.
Illustrative image (Source: VNA)
LamDong (VNA) - A Malayan bear which had been kept in a tourism site in the Central Highlandsprovince of Lam Dong was handed over to FOUR PAWS Viet on November 16.
This is the third bear that have been rescued byFOUR PAWS Viet along with two others in the southern provinces of Ben Tre and DongNai.
The 16-year-old bear, weighing 83kg, wastransferred from a family in Lam Dong to the Prenn waterfall tourism site in DaLat city in 2012.
The same day, FOUR PAWS Viet took the three bearsto its Bear Sanctuary in the northern province of Ninh Binh.
According to Director of FOUR PAWS Viet Ngo ThiMai Huong, the centre has teamed up with other non-governmental organisations(NGOs) to encourage bear owners across Vietnam to voluntarily give up the bearsthey are holding as this is an endangered wild animal that needs protection.
It was estimated that close to 800 bears arestill being kept in captivity in the country, she noted, adding that manyowners now want to transfer their bears and rescue centres and sanctuaries areready to take care of the bears and allow them to live in the naturalenvironment.
FOUR PAWS Viet, an animal welfare sisterorganisation of FOUR PAWS International in Vietnam, was founded in 2017 toimplement a long-term strategy for the rescue of bears being held captive for bilefarming and to make contribution to nature protection and conservation inVietnam.
Prior to this, the NGO had sponsored itsVietnamese partners to build the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary. The first phase ofthe site covers 3.6 hectares and offer suitable accommodation for up to 44bears. Once the second phase completes, the entire site will cover an area ofover 9.7 hectares to house up to 100 bears.
According to Education for Nature Vietnam, thenumber of bears in captivity in Vietnam sharply declined between 2005 and July2018 from 4,300 to 780. They had been caged to harvest bile, a digestive fluidused in traditional Eastern medicine. Bear bile farming was outlawed in the countryin 1992 but owners were not forced to give up the bears they held, only servingto prolong the harmful practice.
In 2017, the government of Vietnam agreed a planwith the non-profit group Animals Asia to shut down all bear farms in thecountry and move all remaining captive bears to sanctuaries. -VNA
VNA
Related News
The forest protection department of the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang released two reticulated pythons back to nature at the Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve in Phung Hiep district on August 14.
An Asiatic black bear owned by Tran Van Trach in Thai Nguyen city of northern Thai Nguyen province has been safely transferred to Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary.
The elongated tortoise is one of the most beautiful and rare terrestrial tortoise species, listed in both the Vietnam Red Data Book and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. It typically inhabits tropical and subtropical forests and plays an important role in maintaining ecological balance. However, due to illegal trade and habitat loss, its wild population has been declining sharply.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded technical cooperation project on drainage management for climate resilience in Can Tho aims to improve planning capacity for wastewater collection, enhance operations and management of existing treatment plants, and the city’s ability to run public awareness campaigns.
A series of environmental and marine-related events to held in the central province of Nghe An from June 4-6 will generate a broad social impact, helping transform awareness into action and commitments into concrete results, and contributing to Vietnam’s goals of green growth, circular economy development, net-zero emissions and harmonious coexistence between people and nature.
According to marine experts, the repeated appearance of dolphins near the shore of Cai Chien Island is a positive sign that the local marine environment is well protected.
According to the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection, as of May 12, more than 1,350 communes and wards nationwide were under the highest forest fire warning of Level 5, while 294 others at Level 4.
To support conservation efforts, the national park has invested in a comprehensive system of breeding enclosures, quarantine areas, reproductive research facilities, wastewater treatment systems and surveillance cameras.
The climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure project in Lang Son consists of two main components, focusing on sustainable infrastructure and environmental improvement; and technical assistance and capacity building, with AFD experts expected to train project management officials and local agencies in disaster response and climate adaptation.
Beyond helping Hai Phong tackle environmental issues, Eco Hopia's primary objective is to transfer advanced technologies to Vietnam, enabling local partners to master them and contribute to the sustainable development of the country's agricultural sector.
The number and activity of tropical cyclones and depressions over the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, and their direct impacts on mainland Vietnam are expected to be comparable to the multi-year average. The long-term average over the East Sea is 5.2 typhoons, with 1.9 making landfall.
Launched in 2021 with funding from the Norwegian people through WWF-Norway and WWF-Vietnam, the “Hue – Plastic Smart City in Central Vietnam” project aims to help Hue protect rivers, wetlands and coastal ecosystems from plastic pollution while building the city into a model plastic-reduced urban area in central Vietnam.
The Bac Lieu Forest Protection Unit under the provincial Forest Protection Sub-Department said that it had completed procedures to transfer and release the animal into its natural habitat.
Initiatives on biodiversity finance, carbon credits, public – private partnerships, nature-based tourism, and private sector investment are creating more opportunities to increase resources for ecosystem conservation and restoration, said an official.
Vietnam has established a network of 180 terrestrial and marine nature reserve covering more than 2.67 million hectares. These sites are being further strengthened to improve ecological connectivity, restore habitats and conserve endangered species. Forest cover remains stable at over 42%, contributing to water protection, climate adaptation and carbon absorption.
The animals included two masked palm civets, four stump-tailed macaques, and seven rhesus macaques. All belong to Group IIB under Circular No. 85/2025/TT-BNNMT issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on the management of endangered, precious and rare species, as well as the implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The animal was identified as a clouded monitor (Varanus nebulosus), weighing approximately two kilograms and measuring around 70 centimetres in length. The species belongs to Group IB — a category of endangered and rare forest wildlife species given the highest level of protection in Vietnam, with all forms of commercial exploitation and use strictly prohibited.
The stump-tailed macaque, scientifically known as Macaca arctoides, is classified as a rare and endangered species under Group IIB in Vietnam’s regulations on endangered wildlife management.
Ho Chi Minh City aims to push urban green coverage above 1 sq.m per person by 2030, while stepping up greenhouse gas reduction initiatives on the way to Net Zero by 2050.
Designed to process 2,000 tonnes of waste per day and generate 45MW of electricity for the national grid, the project is the first high-tech waste-to-energy plant in southwestern Hanoi, where large-scale solid waste treatment facilities have long been lacking.
The figure includes losses of 6.7 billion VND in Cao Bang province and 3.5 billion VND in Dak Lak province, while Quang Ninh and Thanh Hoa provinces have yet to report estimated damages.
The three turtles, each weighing around 1.5 kilogrammes with shells measuring about 25 centimetres long and 20 centimetres wide, are green sea turtles. They were accidentally caught in fishing nets and found drifting at sea near Con Co waters on May 16 by fisherman Bui Dinh Thuy in Cua Viet commune during a fishing trip.
Illustrative image (Source: VNA)