Man sent to jail for raising 14 endangered tigers

Nguyen Van Hien, 40, was jailed for “Offences against regulations on management and protection of endangered, rare animals,” as determined by Nghe An People’s Court.

Hien raised 14 Indochinese tigers in his family’s basement. His act was discovered by Nghe An police in August last year. He said he had brought the tigers back from Laos and had kept them for months.

The same day, police raided another house in the province and discovered three other Indochinese tigers. This case will also go to trial in future.

All 17 tigers were later transferred to a wildlife facility after sedation. But nine of them later died, with their cause of death yet to be announced by authorities.

Once there’s approval from Hanoi People’s Committee, the rest of the tigers are expected to be handed over to Hanoi Zoo at the end of this month.

Indochinese tigers are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their population is threatened by poaching for illegal wildlife trade, as some people believe their bones could be used to make traditional medicine to treat certain ailments.