The charity EAST (Endangered Asian Species Trust) was established as a result of investigations into the illegal wildlife trade done by Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre and Pingtung Rescue Centre in Taiwan.
To support Vietnam’s government in protecting their primates, work began to create a centre to look after confiscated animals and offer facilities to rehabilitate them, if possible, for release into the wild.
In 2008, Dao Tien Endangered Primate Centre opened, in partnership with Cat Tien National Park and Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It specializes in four endangered species found in the region. These are black-shanked doucs, silvered langurs, golden-cheeked gibbons and pygmy lorises.
OUR PROGRESS
These are just a few highlights of what has been achieved so far:
- Since 2008, Dao Tien has built five semi-forested enclosures for primate rehabilitation, and have just completed a brand new loris complex.
- This year alone we have built two more large semi-forested areas to bring us closer to our aim of enabling all young gibbons to grow up in trees.
- We have built an education area on site, and have conducted education awareness sessions to over 5,000 students on site and at their schools.
- We have planted over 500 new trees on Dao Tien.
- We have provided scholarships for Vietnamese students, as well as opportunities for university students to gain field experience and conduct field research. We also organised a symposium to share and discuss experiences with other projects.
- To date, Dao Tien has rescued and cared for more than 50 primates, and released 25.