A monitor lizard is gutted and prepared for cooking. Two species of monitors native to Vietnam, the water monitor (Varanus salvator) and the clouded monitor (Varanus bengalensis) are heavily hunted for both domestic consumption and export to China. Monitors are served in specialty dishes and in wine.

Young hornbills at Burma’s Mandalay Zoo. The female hornbill seals herself in a tree cavity with her young for five months while the male brings them food. These hornbills were captured after their tree was cut down. While most survived the fall, their troubles had only just begun. Vietnam has five native hornbill species.

A leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) suffering from a snare wound sits in a cage at a restaurant in Ha Tay province. This leopard cat died shortly before it was able to be confiscated by rangers.

A young small-clawed otter (Ambloynyx cinerea) was rescued following a tip-off to the ENV hotline by a Ho Chi Minh resident, and subsequently transferred to the Cu Chi Rescue Center.

There are two species of porcupine native to Vietnam. The brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus macrourus) and the Malayan porcupine (Hystrix brachyura). Both species are commonly observed on restaurant menus throughout the country. The photo is of a brush-tailed porcupine.

An adult and cub leopard (Panthera pardus), stuffed and on display in a hotel lobby in Quy Nhon city of Binh Dinh province.

Clouded monitor lizards (Varanus bengalensis) for sale at a wildlife market in Hanoi. The market has since been closed.

A brush-tailed porcupine is gutted at a restaurant. The brush-tailed porcupine is bred in captivity at some farms but farming has not reduced the number of porcupines being hunted from the wild.

Looks like a good defense. However, the sharp quills and posturing are of little value when faced with a human predator. This Malayan porcupine was offered up on the menu of a local restaurant and has since been butchered and eaten.

Cuffed and tied, this monitor lizard isn’t going anywhere except into the saucepan. This monitor, at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City is one of thousands that are smuggled over the border from Cambodia into Vietnam.

A leopard cat hide for sale at a popular tourist market in Lao Cai province. The hide was confiscated by rangers shortly after an ENV survey team inspected the site.

A green turtle being kept in a freshwater pool outside a hotel in Ha Tinh province several years ago. Today, a call to the ENV Wildlife Crime Hotline would almost certainly result in the turtle’s confiscation and release back into the ocean.

Stuffed marine turtles line the wall of a tourist shop. Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricate) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are used to make jewelry, ornaments, and other trinkets, or stuffed and sold as mounted specimens to tourists.