Vietnamese police have rescued dozens of weasels, porcupines and snakes destined for restaurant tables as part of a crackdown on the trafficking of rare animals, an officer said Monday.
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| Police seized hundreds of deer’s horns in an illegal trading in Hanoi last September. Photo by DTiNews |
Officers found 19 live weasels, 12 porcupines, 13 snakes and an endangered black-shanked douc monkey, last Friday at a home in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, said Vo Duc Than head of the local environment police.
A man, described as a professional animal trafficker who specialised in selling to restaurants, has been charged with trafficking rare animals and faces a maximum of three years in prison, the police officer said.
Despite campaigns to curb the practice, wild animal meat remains popular among Vietnamese partly because of its perceived health benefits.
