By Quyen Vu | Project Leader
Thanks to your support, ENV continued to make significant progress in combating wildlife crime in Vietnam during the first five months of 2026. A total of 1,548 new wildlife crime cases were reported to ENV during the period, ranging from advertising wildlife and wildlife products on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Zalo to smuggling a large number of wildlife parts and products from African countries.
During this same period, our team was able to resolve 598 cases and rescue 1,786 live wild animals from the illegal trade, including many endangered species such as Asiatic black bears, leopard cats, lorises, otters, barn owls, eagles, and freshwater turtles and tortoises. In addition, more than 500kg of wildlife parts and products were confiscated, including 240kg of pangolin scales, 243kg of ivory, and 28kg of tiger bone.
Below are a few examples of successes achieved by our team during this reporting period:
On January 19, 2026, Ho Chi Minh FPD responded to an ENV Online Crime Report package, comprising an online supplier's profile and evidence of his violations, and confiscated 10 frozen ferret badgers and 39 frozen Asian koels (Eudynamys scolopaceus) from his house. He was fined VND 10,500,000 for illegally possessing wildlife (Case ref. 33405/ENV).
On February 11, 2026, Hac Thanh Ward Police in Thanh Hoa province responded to an ENV Law Enforcement Evidence Package and confiscated three tiger claws, six sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) claws, 12 leopard (Panthera pardus) teeth, and 0.69191 kg of ivory products from a local jewelry shop. On March 15, 2026, police prosecuted the subject (Case ref. 15446/ENV).
On March 4, 2026, Ninh Binh Provincial Police, in cooperation with ENV, arrested two men and confiscated a set of frozen tiger skeletons at a residential house during a sting operation. The subjects are biological brothers. One owns the house where the tiger was kept, and the other is known as a trader who often cooked tiger bone glue. Both were prosecuted (Case ref. 34503/ENV).
On March 24, 2026, Hanoi Police, in cooperation with ENV, conducted a sting operation resulting in the seizure of five hornbill rostrums and the arrest of the supplier and his wife. Simultaneous raids were carried out at a warehouse in Hanoi, resulting in the seizure of 4.5 tonnes of illegal cigarettes (80,200 packs) and one additional arrest. As part of the same operation, additional raids were carried out at another warehouse in Quang Ninh owned by a tier 1 transnational wildlife trafficker, resulting in the seizure of 242,92kg of ivory and 240kg of pangolin scales. At the time of this report, two fugitives remain at large, connected to the ivory and pangolin scale seizure. Later, the fourth subject, who was responsible for handling input contacts for shipments of smuggled cigarettes, was arrested. The fifth suspect, an ivory trader, surrendered to the police after two months in hiding (Case ref. 8695/ENV).
On March 24, 2026, the Thua Luu FPD station of Hue city responded to a public report via the ENV Wildlife Crime Hotline and confiscated a 400-meter bird net, 50 fake egrets, and a speaker from a local field. The hunting tools were destroyed (Case ref. 36778/ENV).
On April 1, 2026, Ngoc Ha Ward Police in Hanoi responded to a public report via the ENV Wildlife Crime Hotline and confiscated a sea turtle trophy from a local restaurant. The restaurant owner claimed that the Institute of Oceanography had given it to her husband in 2005 as a gift, and he passed away in March this year (Case ref. 36803).
Targeting online sellers of tortoises and freshwater turtles
In March, ENV carried out a crime-reduction campaign targeting the online advertising and sale of tortoises and freshwater turtles. The initiative was conducted in preparation for ENV’s “Turtle Blitz” campaign schedule, which will begin in April and involve a wide array of activities aimed at strengthening protection for turtles.
Over the course of about a week, Wildlife Crime Unit staff scoured social media channels and websites for violations involving turtles. In the end, a total of 14,786 links were found involving an estimated 50,000 tortoises and freshwater turtles being sold online. About 88% of the violations involved exotic species.
Now that the search phase of the crime reduction campaign is complete, the crime unit must begin the substantial process of logging a case for each violator, after which ENV will generate responses ranging from warnings to direct law enforcement interventions. Similar to ENV’s species-focused crime reduction campaigns, each case will be tracked through to conclusion. Over the following six months, ENV typically achieves a success rate of about 75-85%.
Reducing turtle releases at pagodas
In March, 36 ENV outpost volunteers visited 278 pagodas with ponds in Ho Chi Minh City. The aim of the monitoring was to determine which pagodas had turtles released into their ponds by patrons as part of mercy release practices. In total, turtles were recorded at 16 pagodas, 10 of which were existing ENV cases, and six of which were not previously reported to ENV.
“Unfortunately, after authorities go in and collect all the turtles, patrons continue to release turtles into pagoda ponds, and thus we have to work with law enforcement authorities to collect turtles again and again,” said Doug Hendrie, ENV’s Counter Wildlife Trafficking Director. “This is why efforts to change behavior are so important. Enforcement alone can’t solve the problem.”
Over the past few years, ENV has initiated a number of activities aimed at raising awareness and encouraging people not to release turtles at pagodas or into the wild. These have included radio advertisements, LCD adverts in airports, signage posted at pagodas, and direct outreach to pagoda monks.
ENV has also produced and aired multiple public service announcements (PSA) on TV, reaching tens of millions of viewers. In April, another PSA is now airing showing how buying turtles funds criminals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JnJZDMUHSU) and leads to more hunting of turtles and other wildlife.
On behalf of our crime fighters, I would like to thank you all for your continuous support of our important work in Vietnam. These achievements would not be possible without your strong support.
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By Quyen Vu | Project Leader
By Quyen Vu | Project Leader
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