Bear paw in wine
Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), a partner of the USAID-funded Asia’s Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking (ARREST) Program, continued its geographical survey of Hanoi searching for businesses in violation of wildlife protection laws. From August 19 through 23, ENV surveyed a total of 233 businesses of which 13 were found violating laws. ENV has checked more than 550 business establishments since the beginning of the survey in April 2013 and found more than 80 offences. Most violations found were restaurants offering wildlife on menus, a common problem throughout Vietnam. Many restaurants surveyed offered endangered and protected wildlife including pangolins, cobras and various bear products including bear bile wine and bear paw wine. All violations are reported to ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit for further investigation and logged into ENV’s Wildlife Crime Tracking system. Minor offenders receive warning letters and are recorded by police for future reference.
