Smuggled monkeys found in the central province of Phu Yen early this month and later sold by local forest rangers were on Tuesday handed over to a wildlife rescue center in the capital city.

Ngo Ba Oanh, director of Soc Son center, said they would keep the monkeys for some six months till they became healthy.

The animals would first be sent to semi-wild environments for them to regain their instincts to search and find cooking, Oanh said.

Seven of the monkeys died of hitherto unknown reasons on Tuesday.

The monkeys were first found by Tuy Hoa Town’s traffic police when they stopped an unregistered Toyota Innova for speeding on January 2.

After receiving the animals from the police, Tuy Hoa forest rangers sold them to Le Thanh Tuan, who owns a wildlife farm in Dong Hoa District, for VND31.3 million (US$1,695) on January 4.

Tuan, however, returned them to the office three days later, saying public disapproval of the sale could affect his business.

Local newspaper Vietnam News then reported the local rangers planned to release them to a restricted forest on January 8. But a meeting later that day decided that the primates would be kept at Tuan’s farm until a wildlife rescue center agreed to accept them.

Meanwhile, the driver of the car carrying the animals, Trinh Xuan Huy, has turned himself in to the Tuy Hoa police. Huy had fled the scene when police were examining the car.

An investigation into the monkeys’ origins is ongoing, police said.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre

FIFA trophy in Vietnam en route global tour

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup trophy arrived in Vietnam Monday as part of its tour around the world.

Vietnam is the second place after India on the global tour of the trophy that will cover 89 cities in 86 countries before the World Cup 2010 kicks off in South Africa this June.

The solid gold trophy will be in Vietnam for three days from Monday through Wednesday (January 18-20).

This Wednesday (January 20) is expected to be a special occasion for fans in Vietnam because they can visit the Seventh Military Zone Sports Center in Ho Chi Minh City to have their photos taken with the trophy, which is made of 18-carat gold, stands 36.8cm tall and weighs 6.175 kilos.

The 225-day tour, which is sponsored by beverage company Coca-Cola, is set to cover a total distance of 134,017 km before arriving in South Africa on May 4.

Source: Thanh Nien