“Only bears that have been registered and fitted with electronic chips are allowed to be kept” – one of the key points of the bear management regulations, recently signed and issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Decision 47/2006/QĐ-BNN.
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Vietnam has fitted electronic chips to more than 4,300 bears. Photo VNN. |
The bear management regulations apply to organizations, households, individuals domestically, Vietnamese citizens residing abroad, as well as foreign organizations and individuals involved in bear keeping activities within Vietnam.
According to these regulations, the general principle is that bear owners must be responsible for caring for their bears for their entire lives.
The state does not recognize the ownership rights of bear owners over the bears they keep.
All bears kept in violation of these regulations will be confiscated.
Furthermore, the regulations state that bear cubs born from bears that have been registered and fitted with electronic chips must be cared for by the bear owner for a maximum period of one year from their birth date. The Forest Protection Agency will monitor and retrieve bears born from registered and chipped bears to transfer them to bear rescue centers.
Notably, the regulations clearly prohibit the buying, selling, advertising, exporting, importing, temporary importing – re-exporting of bears and bear products, as well as the slaughtering, exploitation, transportation, and trade of bear bile and other bear body parts.
Bear owners are permitted to relocate their bear keeping sites only when the bears have been registered and fitted with electronic chips and confirmed by the provincial or city forest protection agency. In areas without a forest protection agency, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will validate the request to relocate bears, as per the accompanying regulation. When transporting bears out of the province or city, a special transport permit issued by the provincial forest protection authority is required.
According to the regulations, bear owners are responsible for ensuring safety for people and bears and preventing environmental pollution during the bear transport process.
According to the Forest Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the project to fit electronic chips to bears has been implemented in Vietnam since August 2005. To date, approximately 4,300 bears have been fitted with electronic chips. In Hanoi, there are 386 bears (both Asiatic black bears and moon bears), Ho Chi Minh City has about 400 bears, and the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh have 587 bears…
This chipping process aims to create a legal documentation for each bear, thereby establishing a basis for accurate monitoring of bear keeping practices in the country.
Ha Yen
