Rapid Rescue in Vietnam
The Annamites, a rugged mountain chain on the border of Vietnam and Laos, harbors some of the world’s most threatened and least-known mammal species, several of which are found nowhere else on the planet.
One species in particular, the Saola, a type of wild cattle found only in 1992 and last seen on a camera trap in 2013, is on the brink of extinction as the result of poaching across the Annamite forests. Although poachers do not target Saola, they indiscriminately kill ground-dwelling animals with wire snares. This species is likely now down to just a few individuals.
Rapid RESCUE in Vietnam
Funding from the Rapid RESCUE Fund supports WWF-Viet Nam and partners in the search for the last Saola that survive in Vietnam, as a first step in securing these animals for a conservation breeding program designed to ensure the species’ survival. Efforts to find the last remaining individuals will focus on the use of local ecological knowledge and state-of-the-art technologies such as environmental-DNA and intensive camera trapping.
Total project costs: $4,200,000 ($1,400,000 Rapid RESCUE funding; $2,800,000 co-financing)
