Trees chopped down in Cuc Phuong National Park
However, in the past months, parts of the park in Thanh Yen Commune, Thanh Hoa Province have been destroyed by illegal loggers. Near the forest edge, huge trees were chopped down and next to them is a timber cutting site. The loggers chose random locations that are hundreds of metres away from each other to take down the trees in order to avoid the forest rangers.
An old long tree is felled down in Cuc Phuong
The situation hasn't improved despite the forest rangers installing check-points on the routes to the forest.
Timbers left at the site
According to the deputy head of Thanh Hoa Forest Ranger Unit Le Quoc Viet, the province has 3,910 hectares of the national park and 2,044 hectares are in Thach Thanh District's Thanh Yen Commune. They have discovered two logging cases already since the start of November. Cuc Phuong Forest Ranger Unit is investigating the cases with forest ranger units in Thach Thanh District and Thanh Yen and Thanh My communes.
Viet went on to say that loggers from other districts came and worked with the locals to destroy the forest. The authorities of Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh provinces haven't been able to make common regulations on co-ordination so any collaboration is limited.
