Dong Nai police have arrested two suspects linked to the killing of a gaur (Bos gaurus), the world's largest bovine, in a protected area last month.
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| A homemade gun seized from the duo. |
Dong Nai police have arrested two suspects linked to the killing of a gaur (Bos gaurus), the world’s largest bovine, in a protected area last month.
Le Nguyen Anh Hung, 21, and Pham Thanh Liem, 16, were arrested Friday when they were hiding at a house in Binh Phuoc province, also in southern Vietnam.
The duo confessed that they came to the Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve with a homemade gun to hunt wild animals at around 8 p.m. on February 26.
After finding a herd of some 10 gaurs, Hung shot at one of them.
The gaur, weighing about 200 kilograms, tried to run away but soon collapsed.
They returned to their neighborhood and asked another man, Le Minh Tien, to join them and help slaughter the animal.
They then sold the meat and organs to an unidentified buyer in Binh Phuoc.
Police also seized another gun at Hung’s house.
Hung claimed he had found the guns in a local forest in 2014 and used them for hunting.
Police are searching for Tien.
The Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve, spreading over more than 100,000 hectares (247,100 acres), is home to many endangered and vulnerable animals, including around 300 gaurs.
There used to be more than 3,000 gaurs in Vietnam in the 1970s, but the number has shrunk drastically mostly due to poaching.
(Source: TNNews)
