Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest biodiversity density in the world, but it is also a hotspot for wildlife trafficking and consumption. Every year, hundreds of thousands of wild animals are captured, kept in captivity, and consumed, leading to significant impacts on Vietnam’s ecological diversity as well as potential risks of infectious disease transmission between animals and humans.

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Wildlife species are often traded as pets, ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine, souvenirs, meat, and more, and may originate either from direct hunting in the wild or from illegal breeding facilities. According to TRAFFIC (2020), more than ONE MILLION wild animals have been illegally traded in Vietnam over the past decade.

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In contrast to the vast number of illegally captured and traded wildlife, the number of legally authorized rescue centers is extremely limited, with many constraints in facilities, technical capacity, and budget. Without qualified rescue centers, authorities such as the police and forest rangers would have nowhere to transfer confiscated wildlife, creating a major obstacle in efforts to rescue and release these animals back into the wild.

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Many wild animals handed over to rescue centers are often in a state of injury, exhaustion, psychological trauma, loss of natural instincts, or may die before they can be released. To minimize the risk of animals being injured during rescue operations, as well as to support law enforcement agencies effectively, the Wildlife Rescue and Release Program has been directly supporting government-run rescue centers in the technical aspects of rescuing and releasing wildlife. This includes full-time support at key rescue centers in Vietnam such as the Hanoi Wildlife Rescue Center (rescuing 1,200 individuals per year) and the Rescue Center of Phong Nha–Ke Bang National Park (rescuing 500 individuals per year).

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With local and international experts with more than 10 years of experience in rescuing and caring for multi-species wildlife, we provide free enclosure design for rescue and rehabilitation, husbandry recommendations, breeding methods for conservation purposes, and release protocols tailored to each species and each individual.

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We believe that effective wildlife rescue and release is the most direct way to support law enforcement agencies in wildlife protection (confiscation and prosecution), aiming to end illegal wildlife trafficking and consumption in Vietnam.

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