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Poachers pose danger to Hue’s rare pheasant population

HA NOI — Illegal hunting in the Phong Dien Nature Reserve (PDNR), Thua Thien-Hue Province, is seriously endangering a rare bird species named Edwards’ Pheasant, or Lophura edwardsi, according to a recent study.

Conducted by BirdLife International – with the support of the Whitley Awards Foundation for International Nature Conservation – the study aims at understanding the effects of hunting on this specific bird population, as well as the underlying factors driving its hunting and the factors determining the sustainability of hunting in the area.

The data used comes from a series of surveys taken in four focal villages in the buffer zone of PDNR, between June 2001 and July 2002. In each survey, the project team interviewed commune and village leaders, local hunters, non-timber forest-products collectors and government staff to obtain data on hunting of the Edwards’s Pheasant.

A long-standing traditional activity of local communities living around PDNR, hunting is primarily carried out by snaring – that is, using quarry species to lure bigger animals into traps – and not with guns.

There are five main groups of people involved in hunting in PDNR: commercial hunters, illegal loggers, opportunistic hunters, wildlife-restaurant owners and wildlife traders.

Hunting is no longer an important source of income for people living in the buffer zone of the nature reserve, it is for wildlife traders and professional hunters, most of whom come from outside of the area.

And while Edwards’s Pheasant is not a focal quarry species for commercial hunters, nor is it in demand in the wildlife trade, the use indiscriminate ground snares by rattan collectors and illegal loggers has greatly impacted the population.

And despite a decrease in the levels of rattan collection in the past few years, illegal logging and hunting remain widespread and common — regardless of actions by the provincial Forest Protection Department to control these activities.

Local communities living in the buffer zone of PDNR, particularly those living near or inside the forest areas, should be involved in forest protection and management, especially anti-hunting activities, the study concludes. — VNS