Vietnamese Journal of Primatology - Frankfurt Zoological Society

Nadler: Endangered Primate Rescue Center: Report 2004-2006
animals’ status and the budget. Above all, it was a report to the donors of the EPRC apprising them
of and thanking them for the conservation work they support.
In addition to the report, the newsletter also included an increasing number of scientific articles
on the animals at the EPRC. Unfortunately, this information was mostly accessible only to a select
circle of donors and a few primatologists who are in close contact with the center.
The last “EPRC Newsletter” was published in 2004 with the report from 2003. The Vietnamese
Journal of Primatology creates a platform to make all the information from the newsletter accessible
to a broader circle of readers. Reports from the EPRC should be regularly published in the journal.
Animals of the EPRC
The number of primates at the EPRC increased continuously from the end of 1993 (8 individuals)
to the end of 2006 (145 individuals) (Fig. 1). The number of taxa also increased from two to fifteen.
In total, 109 individuals from nine taxa were born at the center. The animals that were confiscated
during the first years of the EPRC were either immature or single adults. It took a few years to
establish mature breeding pairs. Four years after the establishment of the center, the first animals
were born (Fig. 2).
On average, 13.4 animals have been confiscated per year. The large number of animals
confiscated in 2006 was due to the total receipt of 13 pygmy lorises on several occasions. The
confiscation of highly endangered primates very often requires negotiation with the forest
departments of districts and provinces which are responsible for the law enforcement and also for
the issue of transport permits to transport protected animals through the country.
The new law (Decision 139/2004/ND-CP, June 2004) allows the selling of confiscated animals
back to the animal trader or hunter if the animals are not healthy and can not released immediately
back to the wild. This regulation makes the law about the protection of rare and endangered animals
completely useless. With the licensed purchase of confiscated but protected animals these animals
return legally to the animal trade. The reselling of the confiscated animals – which can be very
lucrative (for example, the reselling of a poached tiger) – is a good income for a ranger station. As
Primates at the EPRC
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
8
13
22
31
47
60
72
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Fig. 1. Primates housed at the EPRC.
94
106
112
109
124
130
145
91