In the middle of the Cat Tien National Park in Dong Nai province is located a small island, called Dao Tien (the island of fairies), where there are foreign fairies taking care and protecting monkeys, gibbons and langurs from the man’s dark intentions. EAST, the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Species Center in Cat Tien National Park in the south of Vietnam, covers an area of 30 hectares, located on a small island of the Cat Tien National Park.

The tale about the two gibbons

Nguyen Duy Khang, an officer of the Cat Tien National Park, related that the history of the primate rescue center is associated with the tale about the two black yellow cheeked gibbons which were seized by the Hong Kong’s customs from illegal wildlife traders. As Hong Kong’s agencies concluded that the gibbons were from Vietnam, they sent a notice to Vietnamese agencies and asked to go to Hong Kong to get the gibbons back.

However, for some reasons, no representative was sent to Hong Kong. Hearing that, Alison Cronin, one of the founders of the UK’s Monkey World Ape, spent her own money to take the two individuals for rescue.

Alison Cronin was the person who guided Dr Marina Kenyon Ann to research the black yellow cheeked gibbons in Cat Tien. Marina later went to Vietnam more regularly to collect information about the hunting, captivity and the existence of the endangered primates in the south of Vietnam. The doctor then began nourishing the plan to set up an endangered primate species rescue center in Cat Tien, which was then officially established in 2008.

The animals brought to Dao Tien all were in bad conditions with diseases and injuries on the bodies. Besides, as they were in captivity for many days, some of them got the habits of man. It always takes a long time to rescue and restore their wild instincts. Some time ago, some gibbons individuals rescued on Dao Tien were rehabilitated. The devices attached to the gibbons show that the gibbons have well got adapted to the wild environment.

The fairies on Dao Tien

It was regrettable that when reporters reached to the Dao Tien, Marina, the British fairy, had left for the UK to visit relatives. Dinh Sy Dat, an officer of Dao Tien, said that Marina could live in the forest for weeks to trace primates. When discovering the traces, she would collect all possible specimens to serve the research. She can feed animals and sometimes can work as a veterinary doctor.

“She can remember every habit of the animals here,” Dat said.

While Marina is away, the center’s work would be undertaken by Stephanie Pace. She was once worked on Dao Tien as a volunteer when she was a student. After finishing school, she was invited by Marina to work there. Besides the works of taking care for the animals at the center, Stephanie also undertakes the job of conservation education. She talks about the wildlife conversation to students and the visitors to Dao Tien.

Forest is truly the home of primate species

The efforts to rescue primate species on Dao Tien have shown good results. “When the cage was opened, the apes ran out, turned and looked around and then jumped up the trees. Then they passed from one tree branch to another and disappeared into the forest, leaving only the cry echoed throughout the forest. They look like the kids who can return home after a long time away," Khang said.

He said that in the past, the duty of the rescuers was just treating diseases and making them healthy, and then rehabilitated them. Therefore, it was unclear if the rehabilitated animals could get adapted to the new circumstances.

Nowadays, Marina is applying another rescue process. The rescuers need to survey the environment to find out the most suitable areas to rehabilitate the animals. Meanwhile, the animals are always attached with the devices which help show how they live in the new environment.