Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

The report suggests a continued high responsiveness rate of 97% for all publicly reported wildlife crimes on a national scale, similar to the rate recorded in 2020 which was nearly 98%. However, there was a marginal decrease in terms of the national success rate, especially with regard to that on cases involving live animals.

This can be partly explained by the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in late enforcement responses in some cases. However, it also indicates the need for an improvement in law enforcement authorities’ capacity to respond to and handle publicly reported wildlife crimes for more successful results in the coming years.

The central city of Da Nang surpassed all other localities across most of the evaluation categories, from responsiveness rate to success rate. In detail, the city achieved an overall case success rate of 52.9% and 80% for cases involving live animals

At 82.4%, the central province of Thanh Hoa achieved the highest success rate in handling publicly reported wildlife crimes in 2021.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City still recorded the highest number of reported cases. However, Ho Chi Minh City achieved a relatively low success rate of 15.9% overall and 15.8% for live animal cases – both of these being far below the national averages.

The report re-emphasised the need for law enforcement agencies to respond quickly and decisively to all publicly reported violations to ensure the law is applied in a consistent, sustained, and determined fashion, ultimately leading to the eradication of wildlife crime in Vietnam.