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.

Pictured, from left to right: Forest Guards Dao Viet Thang, Ter Viet Nhan, Le Thanh Tudn (Team Leader), Akieng Nhat Phue, Nquyen Van Treo. Photo by Milo Putnam.

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)

Pressure from poaching and wire snares in Vietnam is so high many of the forests are eerily silent: "empty forest" is a term used to describe a forest that is structurally intact, but has very few animals left in it. Photo by Milo Putnam.