By: Michelle Nguyen – Vietnam Country Director
My children are wonderful little people who are on their journey developing in to great, well balanced individuals and I am very proud of them. As a parent I am always looking for ways to help educate them more about understanding, respecting and caring about the environment, animals and people we share the world with. As part of Journeys Within I am also very conscious of the impact of tourism on communities we visit and where we can give a supporting hand. As a resident of Vietnam I care about the effect of economic growth on where we live too.
We recently headed out to Cu Chi as it is a while since I have been and my children haven’t been yet. It isn’t far from the city and there is a lot to learn in the area. One of the places we visited on our day out was the Wildlife at Risk Rescue Station.
Wildlife at Risk is only a small location, an NGO (Non-Government Organization) doing the best they can while relying on public donations and sponsorship to take in abandoned, rescued, sick and injured animals with the aim to be rehabilitated and released back in to the wild. The funds raised are used for veterinary healthcare, food and daily running of the centre.
On our visit we met with the veterinarian and he walked us around and explained about the stories behind the animals and what we could do to help them. At the time they were looking after various wildlife: Water monitors, Stump-tailed Macaques, Yellow cheeked Gibbons, Asian Small Clawed Otters, Smooth Coated Otters, Asiatic Black Bears, Sun Bears, Pangolins, Snakes, Turtles…They have a resident 3-legged porcupine that can’t be released and it was exciting for us to spend time with a very cheeky baby monkey, the first birth at the station, since named and adopted by a primary school in Saigon. My eldest daughter was a little timid at first, but after watching me and the vet and some encouragement rose to the occasion and soon was handling the feeding and care of the infant wonderfully. In fact it was a hard task to persuade her it was time to go home!
So what help do they need?
1/ People to visit to learn and educate others so that the number of animals coming in reduces.
2/ Donations on visit – around 5 usd per adult
3/ Sponsorship and naming of animals. I have received a list with 1 reptile, 12 primates and 19 mammals.
If you are visiting Cu Chi Tunnels and are interested and want to visit, then let your Tour Consultant know and they can build this in to your itinerary. Allow around 30 minutes to 1 hour for your stop by.
