Three Vietnamese soldiers tortured, skinned alive, eviscerated and barbecued two monkeys - a male and a pregnant female
July 24, 2012
In the images posted online Monday, the men brutally tortured the animals, which are thought to be douc langurs (Pygathrix), an endangered species, before eviscerating and barbecuing them.
Within hours of the Internet posting, animal rights advocates and others had criticized the men and called them inhuman in more than 1,000 comments.
Deputy Director of Department of Forest Management Trieu Van Luc told Tuoi Tre on Wednesday he discovered the information through media outlets.
“This is a serious case. I’m currently on a business trip in Quang Binh province. I will be present in Quang Nam on Thursday (today) to work with the Department of Forest Department regarding this case,” Luc said.
Tran The Lien, chief of Nature Conservation and Director of the Nature Conservation Department under the Directorate of Forests, also voiced his outrage at the brutal killing.
“Their acts are unacceptable and should be strongly condemned. They can face criminal charges regardless of who they are – soldiers or civilians,” he said.
Lien added killing douc langurs, which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species, is a serious offence as stated in an article published July 19, 2012.
In the images posted online Monday, the men brutally tortured the animals, which are thought to be douc langurs (Pygathrix), an endangered species, before eviscerating and barbecuing them.
Within hours of the Internet posting, animal rights advocates and others had criticized the men and called them inhuman in more than 1,000 comments.
Deputy Director of Department of Forest Management Trieu Van Luc told Tuoi Tre on Wednesday he discovered the information through media outlets.
“This is a serious case. I’m currently on a business trip in Quang Binh province. I will be present in Quang Nam on Thursday (today) to work with the Department of Forest Department regarding this case,” Luc said.
Tran The Lien, chief of Nature Conservation and Director of the Nature Conservation Department under the Directorate of Forests, also voiced his outrage at the brutal killing.
“Their acts are unacceptable and should be strongly condemned. They can face criminal charges regardless of who they are – soldiers or civilians,” he said.
Lien added killing douc langurs, which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species, is a serious offence as stated in an article published July 19, 2012.
some of the pictures that the sadists had posted on Facebook
one of the pictures that had been posted on Facebook by one of the soldiers
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picture of the pregnant female being forced to smoke cigarettes
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Vietnamese soldiers held over deaths of rare monkeys
Vietnamese authorities have detained three soldiers suspected of torturing and killing two rare monkeys, state-run Voice of Vietnam newspaper reports.
July 20, 2012
One of the men had posted photos on Facebook showing how the monkeys were killed, triggering a public outcry.
The monkeys were endangered grey-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix cinerea), reports say.
The soldiers, stationed in Vietnam's Central Highlands area, are now under investigation.
One of them, Nguyen Van Quang, who is serving in the Tay Nguyen Command of the Vietnamese army, posted photos of the monkeys on his Facebook page last week.
The photos showed one of the monkeys, believed to be pregnant, being made to smoke a cigarette before it was tortured and killed.
Col Nguyen Van Hai, head of Tay Nguyen Command's Military Prosecutor's Office, told the Voice of Vietnam that the soldiers had been detained and were being questioned.
"We're still continuing our investigation into the case. When we have enough evidence, they [the soldiers] will be dealt with in accordance with Vietnamese military laws," he said.
He added that the three had admitted killing the monkeys and said they had bought them from locals.
The men, who were identified on Thursday, are set to appear in a military court on an as yet unspecified date.
What is more worrying about the incident is that the young soldier who posted the photos on Facebook did not think he did anything wrong, says Nga Pham from BBC Vietnamese.
Authorities now realise that they need to do something to educate people, especially the young, about animal welfare and protection, she adds.
Source: BBC News Asia
One of the men had posted photos on Facebook showing how the monkeys were killed, triggering a public outcry.
The monkeys were endangered grey-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix cinerea), reports say.
The soldiers, stationed in Vietnam's Central Highlands area, are now under investigation.
One of them, Nguyen Van Quang, who is serving in the Tay Nguyen Command of the Vietnamese army, posted photos of the monkeys on his Facebook page last week.
The photos showed one of the monkeys, believed to be pregnant, being made to smoke a cigarette before it was tortured and killed.
Col Nguyen Van Hai, head of Tay Nguyen Command's Military Prosecutor's Office, told the Voice of Vietnam that the soldiers had been detained and were being questioned.
"We're still continuing our investigation into the case. When we have enough evidence, they [the soldiers] will be dealt with in accordance with Vietnamese military laws," he said.
He added that the three had admitted killing the monkeys and said they had bought them from locals.
The men, who were identified on Thursday, are set to appear in a military court on an as yet unspecified date.
What is more worrying about the incident is that the young soldier who posted the photos on Facebook did not think he did anything wrong, says Nga Pham from BBC Vietnamese.
Authorities now realise that they need to do something to educate people, especially the young, about animal welfare and protection, she adds.
Source: BBC News Asia
Please sign the petition!
By signing our petition using the widget at the bottom of the page, or directly at change.org, the following message will be sent instantly to the Government of Vietnam:
Subject: three Vietnamese soldiers tortured, skinned alive, eviscerated and barbecued two monkeys - a male and a pregnant female.
I signed this petition because I came to know of a horrific incident that took place in your country, where three Vietnamese soldiers tortured, skinned alive, eviscerated and barbecued two monkeys - a male and a pregnant female.
Photographs of this sadistic and criminal event on the internet have shocked tens of thousands of people worldwide, with the extent of the horrible brutality depicted. What is even more shocking, and very worrying at the same time, is that the soldier who had posted these pictures on Facebook, later said that he was not aware that he did anything wrong.
As you would surely know, the link between animal abuse and crimes against humans has been well documented over several decades.
Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the last 25 years have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently have histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty. The FBI has recognized the connection since the 1970s, when its analysis of the lives of serial killers suggested that most had killed or tortured animals as children. Other research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of more common forms of violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse.
According to a 1997 study done by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and North-eastern University, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.
That said, we ask the Government of Vietnam to severely punish those responsible for this heinous crime and thus, set an example against animal abuse in your country. The abusers must be locked up, because it is proven that people who can commit such crimes against animals rarely stop there; they are very likely to harm other humans, especially children or other vulnerable people.
We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that one of the abusers said that he was not aware that he did “something wrong”, clearly indicating he lacks the moral values to differentiate right from wrong.
Sadly, this is a phenomenon often observed when we do not educate our children from a young age about animal rights and animal welfare. If we did, we would likely see a drop in not just animal abuse, but also human abuse worldwide.
Teaching children from a young age to respect ALL life and not to harm animals, is of benefit to society as a whole, and we ask the Vietnamese government to listen to many of their citizens who are asking to introduce a mandatory animal rights and animal welfare education in all primary schools because it appears from this incident, that some Vietnamese citizens do not realize that torturing and killing sentient beings is wrong and that it is a criminal act.
The implementation of an awareness program for soldiers would also seem appropriate - given that even the authorities have acknowledged that there is a need for education, both in animal rights and animal welfare / conservation - so that similar incidents are prevented from occurring in the future.
We believe you will agree that this sort of incident has no place in the future of this planet that we all share, and we trust that you will implement the necessary measures to avoid such horrible crimes in the future.
Yours respectfully,
[Your name]
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Petition closed!
January 21, 2013 - Three people sent to jail
From the left: Ha Van Tu, Ha Van Que, Bui Van Hung (Photo: QĐND)
VietNamNet Bridge – The three people who caught and brutally slaughtered three shanked langurs have been sentenced to 12-28 months in prison by the Sa Thay District People's Court in Kon Tum province.
The Sa Thay District People's Court has put on trial the case in which three men tortured, killed two rare langurs and then posted the photos on the Internet, causing public outrage in July 2012.
Ha Van Tu (38, Dak Lak), Ha Van Que (38, Gia Lai) and Bui Van Hung (36, Thanh Hoa) are defined as those who directly caught and killed the langurs.
For their violations of the provisions on the protection of endangered animals, the Panel sentenced Tu to 24 months, Que 28 months and Hung 12 months in prison.
On 11/07/2012, these people went into the forest in Chu Mo Ray commune, Sa Thay district, Kon Tum province for wildlife hunting together.
By noon, the group discovered a herd of langurs. They shot and killed two langurs and sold the animals to some army soldiers for VND1.2 million (around $60).
A soldier named Nguyen Van Quang, 20 years old, from Quang Nam province, of the Battalion 2, Regiment 7, Corps 3 posted langur killing photos on the Internet, causing public outrage.
Related to the incident, Quang and two other soldiers in the battalion were summoned for investigation. The Military Corp 3 on July 31 announced to revoke the soldier’s title of private first class Quang and sent him back home.
Some photos featuring cruel scenes posted on Quang's Facebook page on July 11, stirring up social anger.
The online community was in an outrage of pictures that show a group of young men abusing and then boiling two endangered monkeys, one of them pregnant.
In the images, the men bound the limbs of the pregnant monkey and forced it to smoke before posing eagerly with the carcasses.
Within hours of the Internet posting, animal rights advocates and others criticized the men and called them inhuman in more than 1,000 comments.
The monkeys are douc langurs (Pygathrix), which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species, according to Professor Vo Quy at the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental at the National University of Hanoi.
Source
The Sa Thay District People's Court has put on trial the case in which three men tortured, killed two rare langurs and then posted the photos on the Internet, causing public outrage in July 2012.
Ha Van Tu (38, Dak Lak), Ha Van Que (38, Gia Lai) and Bui Van Hung (36, Thanh Hoa) are defined as those who directly caught and killed the langurs.
For their violations of the provisions on the protection of endangered animals, the Panel sentenced Tu to 24 months, Que 28 months and Hung 12 months in prison.
On 11/07/2012, these people went into the forest in Chu Mo Ray commune, Sa Thay district, Kon Tum province for wildlife hunting together.
By noon, the group discovered a herd of langurs. They shot and killed two langurs and sold the animals to some army soldiers for VND1.2 million (around $60).
A soldier named Nguyen Van Quang, 20 years old, from Quang Nam province, of the Battalion 2, Regiment 7, Corps 3 posted langur killing photos on the Internet, causing public outrage.
Related to the incident, Quang and two other soldiers in the battalion were summoned for investigation. The Military Corp 3 on July 31 announced to revoke the soldier’s title of private first class Quang and sent him back home.
Some photos featuring cruel scenes posted on Quang's Facebook page on July 11, stirring up social anger.
The online community was in an outrage of pictures that show a group of young men abusing and then boiling two endangered monkeys, one of them pregnant.
In the images, the men bound the limbs of the pregnant monkey and forced it to smoke before posing eagerly with the carcasses.
Within hours of the Internet posting, animal rights advocates and others criticized the men and called them inhuman in more than 1,000 comments.
The monkeys are douc langurs (Pygathrix), which are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of endangered and threatened species, according to Professor Vo Quy at the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental at the National University of Hanoi.
Source
Messages received from people who signed our petition
RE: Update about 'Vietnam: Punish the animal abusers who tortured and killed the two monkeys!' on Change.org
Thank you so much for the update. I still cannot believe that anyone could actually contemplate the acts that these three evil soldiers did. Sadly the world has become a wicked place, and it is totally incomprehesible how such cruelty happens. Perhaps these three soldiers might realise their wrong doing, sadly I fear not. What is the world coming too.
- Sue -
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RE: Update about 'Vietnam: Punish the animal abusers who tortured and killed the two monkeys!' on Change.org
I am very happy that the perpetrators were caught, but their sentence is far too light, they should throw them in jail and throw the keys away. They don't deserve any pity.
- Irill -
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RE: Update about 'Vietnam: Punish the animal abusers who tortured and killed the two monkeys!' on Change.org
I'm glad these monsters received jail time, but I still can't get the thought of the horror that these poor monkeys had to endure out of my mind. We live in such a cruel world!!
- A. A. -
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RE: Update about 'Vietnam: Punish the animal abusers who tortured and killed the two monkeys!' on Change.org
Thank you for the update on the brutal torture and killing of these two lovely monkeys, plus the unborn monkey that never even got a chance to live. I am so pleased that through the petition that some sort of justice has been given to these 3 soldiers. What they done to these monkeys is beyond belief. One day maybe, our animals might just decide that enough is enough and start fighting back, and maybe then, they will get a taste of what is is actually like to be on the recieving side of these tortures and killing. Thanks again for all that has been done to bring these men to justice. I would have liked to have seen longer jail time, but it is better than nothing and maybe, just maybe, it will stop them doing anything like this again x
- Susan -
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