Dead animals to create 'world of wildlife’ in a new national museum

The Hanoi Times - Scientists plan to open a museum displaying the preserved corpses of animals confiscated from poachers. The National Museum of Nature is to be opened within the next five years in Hanoi to showcase Vietnam’s native wildlife.

Hundreds of poached wildlife products, including the corpses of wild animals confiscated by police, have been processed by scientists to become display items at the museum.

The museum scientist said it normally takes 100 complex steps to preserve a dead animal and each species required a different preservation method.

The scientists have already preserved monkeys, tigers, ants, a hippopotamus and birds such as the flowerpecker.

The animals are being kept in storage at the museum’s temporary site, waiting to be moved to the museum in Hanoi’s Hoa Lac urban area.

Museum Director Pham Van Luc said the museum, which was almost ready to open, would provide the visitors a unique view o­n the world of wildlife in Vietnam, from an animal’s habitat to its behavior in its natural environment.

Luc said entry to the museum would be free to encourage people’s understanding of nature and students’ wildlife research.