Experts are keeping close watch on an endangered male gaur who was recently spotted wandering near a forest in central Viet Nam, news website VnExpress reported.

Ngo Tien Dung , deputy chief of the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry’s Nature Conservation Bureau , said Thursday wildlife experts had been sent to the sites in Quang Nam Province where local residents reported seeing the gaur.

Forest wardens were also deployed to the forest in the mountainous district of Dong Giang in Quang Nam to protect the gaur, which residents saw and filmed on two occasion on March 10 and April 4.

According to the experts, the gaur has now moved to an area near a saola reserve in Quang Nam, which borders Bach Ma National Park in Thua Thien-Hue.

Dung said the gaur may have strayed from the nearby Bach Ma National Park to Dong Giang during the mating season.

Gaur has not been seen in Quang Nam for years. Nation-wide, the gaur population is estimated to be 300. The species is facing extinction due to shrinking habitat and illegal poaching.

Local authorities have asked local residents not to hunt the gaur while experts are trying to lure him back to the Bach Ma National Park.

(Source: thanhniennews)