Caged in the city

With 48 threatened bird species, and the highest number of breeding endemic bird species (11) in mainland Southeast Asia, Viet Nam is a global conservation priority. Many of these threatened species are hunted unsustainably for wildlife trade. Very little is known about the current true scale of the trade in Viet Nam as the most recent research was conducted in 2008. To fill this knowledge gap, and to support bird conservation efforts in the region, TRAFFIC undertook a full inventory of the bird markets across the country’s two main cities—Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).