Five critically endangered langurs shot dead in central Vietnam

The dead langurs were found last week in a forest managed by Ba To Forestry One Member Co. Ltd in Ba To District of the central province when an inspection team including rangers and police were patrolling the forest.

The poachers had successfully run away when the team approached, leaving behind a motorbike, 53 lead bullets and silencers.

The five grey-shanked douc langurs shot dead by poachers in Quang Ngai Province, October 18, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Pham Linh

Gray shanked douc langurs usually live along Annamite Forest in the central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Kon Tum and Gia Lai.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Species categorizes them as "critically endangered".

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) also called the grey-shanked douc langur critically endangered, with a population estimated to be around 550-700 around the world.

The main threats to all three species of douc langurs (including black-shanked and red-shanked doucs) are habitat loss and hunting, said the WWF.

The forests on which douc langurs depend are disappearing at an exponential rate as logging and agricultural conversion continues while douc langurs are hunted for food, for use in traditional medicine and for sale as pets, it said.