Vietnam Bans Wildlife Trade to Curb Risk of Pandemics

Vietnam's Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, has released a decree banning trade in wildlife in Southeast Asia with immediate effect in order to minimize the possibility of new pandemics, a government statement said.

The Directive bans the import of live wild animals and wildlife goods, removes wildlife markets and places restrictions on illicit hunting and trading of wild animals, including internet transactions, according to a statement released late Thursday.

Vietnam is an important destination in the Asian world for illicit wildlife products such as pangolin and elephant ivory. There have also been reports of rhino heads, which are claimed to have medicinal value.

In February, 14 conservation organisations in Vietnam sent a joint letter urging the government to “identify and close markets and other locations where illegal wildlife is on sale”.

The Southeast Asian country is known to have many wildlife markets and also thriving online trade in livestock, with current laws sometimes badly applied.

Neighboring China has already vowed to prohibit the sale and eating of wild animals after the coronavirus outbreak.

Scientists claim that the virus transferred from animals to humans, and some of the early outbreaks were identified in people subjected to the wildlife market in Hubei's provincial capital, Wuhan, where bats, rodents, civets and other animals were sold.