Soldier who tortured rare monkeys sacked

Nguyen Van Quang, who uploaded photos of the brutal slaying of the two endangered monkeys on Facebook in mid-July, has been sacked from the army forces, local officials said.

Nguyen Van Quang, who uploaded photos of the brutal slaying of the two endangered monkeys on Facebook in mid-July, has been sacked from the army forces, local officials said.

Image depicts the brutal slayings of an endangered douc langur monkey that has shocked Internet users recently. In this photo, Nguyen Van Quang is half-naked.

Two other servicemen have received ‘warnings’ for their involvement in the torture of the monkeys identified as Grey-shanked douc langurs, which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species.

The three men reportedly bought the primates from a wildlife trader at $57 before viscerating and barbecuing them.

In the graphic images, the men bound the limbs of the pregnant monkey and forced it to smoke cigarettes before posing eagerly with the carcasses, triggering outrage among many local Internet users.

Within hours of the Internet posting, animal rights advocates and others criticized the men and called them inhuman in more than 1,000 comments.

Many people have asked the government to bring them to swift justice and calling on the public to protect animals and the environment.

Among them is Tran The Lien, chief of Nature Conservation and Director of the Nature Conservation Department under the Directorate of Forests

“Their acts are unacceptable and should be strongly condemned. They can face criminal charges regardless of who they are – soldiers or civilians," he said.