By DPA,
Hanoi : Forest wardens in Vietnam have rescued 3,500 illegally imported crocodiles and four rare white-cheeked gibbons, a ranger said Thursday.
Forest wardens in the southern province of An Giang have seized 3,500 illegally imported crocodiles, the Vietnam News reported Thursday.
Crocodiles are raised widely in Vietnam for meat. Police said the illegally imported crocodiles were worth some $37,000.
The gibbons were kept in cages in front of the offices of the Kinh Lo Tea Company Limited, said Tran Thanh Binh, head of the forest warden division in the central province of Lam Dong.
Binh said the firm’s boss, Taiwan citizen Huang Pin Chuan, could be liable for fines of up to $16,000 for keeping an endangered animal. The white-cheeked gibbon survives only in small populations in Vietnam, China and Laos.