Hanoi - A zoo in the Vietnamese capital has admitted to
auctioning the bodies of two tigers to wildlife traffickers who were
arrested in a raid this week, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The report was a new twist in the case of a major wildlife
trafficking ring that was found with two live, sedated tigers in the
back seat of a car and four frozen tiger bodies in a country where
buying and selling the endangered big cats is illegal.
Dang Gia Tung, deputy director of the Hanoi Zoo, told Tien Phong
newspaper that zoo officials held two auctions for the bodies of the
tigers, which died of disease, to raise money for the facility.
The winner of both auctions, Nguyen Quoc Truong, has said he paid
150 million dong (about 10,000 dollars) and 120 million dong (about
8,000 dollars) for the carcasses, Tien Phong reported Thursday.
Truong, who was arrested Monday night, said he had receipts of the
sales, according to the paper.
On Monday, police raided a house in Hanoi where they found four
frozen tiger bodies - included the two auctioned by the zoo.
Police also seized two live tigers that had been sedated and
stuffed into bags that were being transported in the back seat of a
car.
It was unclear Thursday whether anyone at the Hanoi Zoo would face
charges. Officials at the zoo could not be reached Thursday.
Tung told Tien Phong that the zoo never sold live tigers.
Trading in endangered species is subject to a prison term of up to
seven years and a cash fine of up to 20 million dong (1,250 dollars)
under Vietnamese law.
Authorities had been tracking the suspected trafficking operation
for at least two months, and arrested five other people in the raid
on Monday night, according to local media.
In addition to the tigers, police also seized two elephant tusks,
a rhinoceros horn and about 16 kilograms of animal bone ground into a
paste, Lao Dong reported.
Officers also seized a shotgun and two kilns used for making paste
out of animal bones, used in many traditional medicines.
'Tiger paste' made from boiled tiger bones is believed by many
Vietnamese to heal the bones of the elderly and can sell for as much
as 5,000 dollars a kilogram on the black market.
Only a few hundred wild tigers remain in Vietnam's forests.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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