NGUOI LAO DONG (Hanoi, Vietnam) 01 November 05 Phung Hiep snake market
Phung Hiep wild animal market, reputed to be the biggest of its kind in Vietnam, continues to sell endangered and prohibited species. Nguoi Lao Dong’s reporters took the 200km trip to report on the markets produce.
Arriving at the market in Hau Giang province at 6am, it is difficult to express the feeling of viewing dozens of cages containing thousands of writhing snakes. The atmosphere in Phung Hiep market was exciting, as we witnessed snake traders fearfully transferring poisonous copperheads, kraits, and rattlesnakes, from their cages to purchasers’ jute bags.
“What do you want to buy: snake, turtle, gecko, varan, moor-hen, birds of all species, boa or bat?” a woman asked us.
Shocked by her question it took several seconds to regain my composure before asking, “Which kind of snake is good for soaking in wine?”
With a smile, the woman responded, “Are you disparaged by your wife? Set your mind at rest! Take a couple of copperheads, and soak them with several moor-hens and geckos for 100 days. Drink the wine and your wife will be totally satisfied.”
The price for a snake ranges from tens of thousands of dong for individual specimens, to hundreds of thousands of dong per kilogram. One kilogram of water snakes is priced at VND30, 000 – VND50, 000 (US$1.88 - $3.13); while copperheads sell for between VND50, 000 – VND400, 000 ($3.13 - $25) per kilo.
Prices are high but all visitors to the market buy several snakes before they leave. Those frightened by live snakes buy wine jags with snake, or moor-hens, and geckos priced between VND200,000 ($13.2) to several million dong.
Second to the snakes in quantity at Phung Hiep market are wild birds. All species favoured by urban gastronomers such as cao, cu dat, stork, blosh dove, moorcook, and la mia, are sold at the market.
Birds are hanged up on the motorbikes of bird hunters from rural areas and confined in narrowed cages. Thousands of birds are purchased each hour, and transported to ‘headquarters’ for retail sale to restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City and southwestern provinces.
Apart from snakes and wild birds, we also saw many species of wild animals for sale at the market, including geckos, iguanas, cua dinhs, turtles, and bats; however, sellers keep such creatures from view, until the buyer agrees on a price.
The government has listed ibis, guinea-fowl, king copperhead, coluber, and grass-snake as endangered, and they with hunting of these species banned, however at Phung Hiep market they are sold publicly for the best price. Other endangered and prohibited wild animals are also thoughtlessly exploited and sold at the market.
Around 70% of wild animals sold at Phung Hiep market are in the government’s forbidden list. Local authorities have tried to close it for several years, but the market continues to exist.
Phung Hiep snake market