On February 21, Nguyen Ba Quyen from Tan Thuan Dong Ward, District 7, handed over a 500-gram Oriental pied hornbill.
According to Quyen, the bird flew into his garden. Realising it was a rare species, he fed it fruit, then secured it in a cage before contacting the forest protection authorities.
An Oriental pied hornbill (Photo by An Huy)
A few days earlier, Nguyen Khac Minh from Tan Binh District also handed over a white-bellied hornbill to the city's Forest Protection Department.
Minh said he spotted the bird perched on his staircase at midnight. Suspecting it was a rare species; he provided food and water. The next morning, finding the bird still in his house, he called the Saigon Zoo for guidance before handing it over to the HCM City Forest Protection Department.
The white-bellied hornbill is listed under Group IIB of endangered and rare forest species.
Nguyen Cong Bang, Deputy Head of the Wildlife Rescue Station under the HCM City Forest Protection Department, stated that the two white-bellied hornbills had likely been kept in captivity before either escaping or being released.
Bang further noted that keeping wild animals in captivity without legal documentation verifying their origin is a violation of the law.
He urged people not to keep wild animals in captivity. If they come across one in a residential area, they should promptly report it to local authorities for proper handling.
