Misery because of tiger
The family of Mr. Nguyen Mau Chien and Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tu built their own cages and kept 15 tigers in village 27, Con Tau Voi (Xuan Tin commune, Tho Xuan district, Thanh Hoa).
In 2008, the authorities discovered and handled administrative violations at the highest level of 30 million VND/household. On May 22, 2012, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province granted Mr. Chien's household a license to raise 12 tigers (3 had died before) with many strict conditions according to the law, the license was valid until 2017. Since then, Mr. Chien's household has complied with and kept tigers in captivity according to regulations. The competent CITES management authority of Vietnam has come to collect genes, identify, and make records.
In 2017, the license expired but the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee could not issue a new license because at that time there was no legal basis. However, there was not enough basis to confiscate, destroy or transfer because the family strictly followed the regulations and did not violate the law. So from then until now, Mr. Nguyen Mau Chien's family has been raising tigers without knowing what their future will be?
According to Mr. Trinh Dinh Bach - the person who directly raises the tigers, each day, a tiger eats an average of 300,000 - 350,000 VND. Thus, in 1 year, to raise this herd of 10 tigers, the family must spend billions of VND. According to the reporter's observations, the herd of 10 tigers is currently healthy.
“It’s a pity to abandon it now, but a sin to keep it. There is no agency or unit to support it, but the family still has to raise it. Should we just let it die?” Mr. Bach said, frustrated because he doesn’t know how the authorities will handle it.
Not only Mr. Chien, Tho Xuan District Forest Protection Department is also miserable. In December 2023, a female tiger died. According to regulations, Mr. Chien's family is not allowed to use this tiger's body. Tho Xuan District Forest Protection Department is assigned to preserve it.
According to Mr. Le Van Hai - Head of the Department, at first, he planned to leave the refrigerator in Mr. Chien's house, but because of concerns about safety, he brought it back to the department. Here, the department had to use a room to put the refrigerator, install a generator to ensure that there would never be a power outage to preserve the tiger's body.
In September 2024, another male tiger died. The seeds had to be put in a refrigerator, frozen, and placed next to the refrigerator containing the body of the female tiger that died in 2023. All week, 24/7, Tho Xuan Forest Protection Department had to assign people to be on duty to ensure the tiger's body was kept and to prevent theft.
Struggling with no solution
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Dam Van Hung - Branch Director of Thanh Hoa Forestry - confirmed that the forestry sector as well as other departments of Thanh Hoa have been having a "headache" with the story of the tigers in Xuan Tin because despite great efforts, there has been no positive solution.
Accordingly, in 2017, when the license expired, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consensus as a basis for advice to the Provincial People's Committee to issue a license to establish a biodiversity conservation facility and a license to raise priority species for protection. However, both ministries have not yet reached a consensus.
In another direction, on September 23, 2019, implementing Decree 06/2019/ND-CP, the owner of the facility submitted a request for a code for a facility raising group IB species with a plan to the One-Stop Office - Directorate of Forestry. This department received the application and returned the results on September 29, 2019, but until now, after 5 years, there is still no news.
There have been many meetings to discuss solutions between forest rangers and related units, including central agencies such as the Center for Nature Education (ENV), the Forestry Department, the Department of Nature Conservation, CITES Vietnam (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the Department of Biodiversity Conservation (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment)... but no definitive solution could be found because there were not enough conditions to confiscate and destroy because there were no violations, but there were also not enough conditions to grant a license to establish a biodiversity conservation facility.
Another way is to transfer the 10 living individuals to Wildlife Rescue Centers, zoos or scientific research units. Thanh Hoa Provincial Forest Protection Branch has issued 2 documents, sent to 11 units nationwide, inviting to receive the 10 tiger individuals above, but no unit has agreed.
In the end, there was no other way, the authorities continued to encourage Mr. Chien's family to continue raising tigers, Tho Xuan Forest Protection Department continued to preserve and maintain the bodies of the two dead tigers, and the locality and other departments continued to "care", "check", "monitor", "encourage"...
