Previously, Dang Thai Tuan, a 20- year-old student from the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Studies of the University of Education, a member school of the University of Da Nang (UD), pursued raising, collecting and exchanging reptiles as a passion in his teens; however, he currently acts as ‘a rescuer’ of wild animals in captivity.

Dang Thai Tuan (mid) rescues a python molurus crawling into the headquarter of the Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue No. 5 in October 2021.

From a reptile collector to the owner of an environmental protection club

In 2015, Dang Thai Tuan participated in a reptile club when the movement to raise and collect many types of reptiles such as snakes, iguanas, salamanders was very popular. This club was an ideal place where members meet, share experience in raising and exchanging reptiles as a hobby. He also raised pythons and salamanders at that time.

As shared by Tuan, members of the club all had the viewpoint that raising and taking care of wild animals would be better than letting them survive on their own in the wild. That's why reptile owners at that time invested much time, efforts and money into learning about their living habits, cages, food and toys. But he later realised that it was both harmful to the animals and unbalanced the natural ecosystem.

During the days of driving to explore the Son Tra Peninsula and watching golden monkeys or the red-shanked douc langur, Tuan began to change his perception of wildlife protection and the environment in general.

He gave up raising reptiles, searched for information, and volunteered for the Green Viet Nam Biodiversity Conservation Center (Green Viet) - which has many research activities and protects the natural environment on the Son Tra Peninsula.

In 2018, Tuan registered to join ENV Da Nang Club under Education for Nature – Viet Nam (ENV), a non-governmental organisation specialising in wildlife protection. Apart from that, Tuan also has had the opportunity to be in the community of nature lovers and work in the conservation of flora and fauna when he became a new student at the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Issues of the University of Education,

Since 2019, Tuan has served the post as the Chairman of ENV Da Nang Club with the responsibility of connecting more than 30 volunteers who are enthusiastic young people to participate in detecting violations related to wild animals such as hunting, illegal trading to report to the authorities for handling. At the same time, members of the club also participated in propagating the Law on Biodiversity Conservation as well as images of the beauty of the city's nature to raise public awareness.

Dang Thai Tuan (right) and young people who love nature during a field trip and visit Son Tra Peninsula. Photo courtesy by Tuan, taken before the resurgence of COVID-19.

"Role-play" to detect wildlife violations

Thanks to a list of places keeping and trading wild animals illegally provided by locals via the club's hotline, ENV Da Nang Club’s members can survey these locations, record violations, and skillfully record them to report to the competent authorities.

Moreover, Tuan even joins associations and groups exchanging and trading wild animals or wild meat on Facebook to find sellers. Sometimes, Tuan doesn’t mind playing the role of a buyer to collect information and provide it to the competent authorities for addressing. There was a time when Tuan was also willing to be bald, wear punk clothes for a long time to play the role of a "playboy". But in fact, he was surveying establishments suspected of selling bushmeat, bear bile, tiger claws or pangolin scales.

According to him, there are dozens of restaurants never put rare or "unique" wild meat dishes on the public menu, and only give pictures for customers to choose from when asked. In addition, he also shared that it is very difficult to bring an older individual, tamed in a freshwater environment back to the sea. Therefore, it is necessary to consider and learn how to handle specific wildlife cases to avoid harming them.

On a late night of October 2021, Tuan promptly showed up to support soldiers of the Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue No. 5 in Cam Le District when having been reported about a python molurus that suddenly appeared in the unit’s headquarter. The next morning, the 1.3m python molurus weighing about 4kg, was handed over to the inter-district rangers of Son Tra - Ngu Hanh Son districts to release into the natural environment.

Thus far, ENV Da Nang has had more than 500 detections, prevention and coordination with competent authorities to handle violations of wildlife conservation in restaurants and oriental medicine stores. The long journey of these young people who spend huge love to nature has been still arduous, but no one intends to give up as their enthusiasm for the forest and wildlife remains intact day by day.

Reporting by XUAN SON- Translating by T.VY