Le Trong Trai – Director of the Viet Nature Conservation Center (Viet Nature) yesterday said that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lifted the warning of the extinction of Large-antlered Muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis) like saola (siola).
Mr. Trai stressed that once IUCN raises warning level to Critically Endangered (CR) which means the animal is on the brink of extinction because the CR is the most threatened level before the animal is extinction in wild like Javan Rhinoceros in Vietnam.
Large-antlered Muntjac, sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis, was discovered in the Truong Son Mountain range of Viet Nam and Laos.
The muntjac is described as a new species in 1994 in Vietnam through samples of horn and forehead bone collected in the National Park Vu Quang in the central province of Ha Tinh. However since the discovery of the muntjac, no one has seen them in wild. The species is on the extinction because of uncontrolled hunting.
The Large-antlered Muntjac has been recorded by Viet Nature at Khe Nuoc Trong in the forests of central Province of Quang Binh at six different locations. Trail camera photos include one mature male, six mature females and one infant beside its mother
Mr. Le Trong Trai, a leading ecologist said “Khe Nuoc Trong might be the only area of lowland forest of central Vietnam with a viable population of the Large-antlered Muntjac. This area has significant conservation value at national and international levels; therefore it deserves to be prioritized for protection”.
Viet Nature is continuing to carry out trail camera photo in central provinces with the hope to find more rare wild animal for preservation plan in Vietnam.
