Scottish girl and the years looking for Vietnamese jungle wolf

Being smart, agile, able to sniff and recognize strange smells very well, it is difficult for people to see and approach forest wolves in Vietnam.

In the early 1990s, Maria Jose Brinton from Scotland came to Vietnam to study the biological behavior of Canis aureus wolves to complete a doctorate in zoology.

This is hard work and requires a lot of effort, perseverance, courage, especially for a foreign girl. But with the qualities of a professional researcher, Maria completed the project in three years.

Canis aureus wolf wolf.(Photo: Phung my Trung)

To Vietnam, Maria chose Chu Yang Sin Nature Reserve in DakLak province - where the zoology of Vietnam once recorded the distribution of wolves.

Forest wolves are beasts weighing 5-8kg, body lengths of 600-750mm, tail length 200-250mm. Their fur is yellow and black with black or black fur, which is a dark brown color. The shoulder area of ​​the species has many black hairs. About a third of their outer tails are dark gray.

Being a very intelligent, agile species in nature, it is difficult for humans to see and approach them. They also have the ability to sniff, recognize strange smells very well. Maria and her colleagues in Vietnam for many days, the "ambush" in the forest put food as traps and camera trap (camera trap) but they never had the opportunity to approach the wolf to take pictures and Watch the hunting of this rare red animal in nature.

The journey to search for golden wolves is just footprints, some faded pictures and broken movies about their presence. However, by measuring and counting the footprints and the amount of trapping food consumed by wolves, Maria and Vietnamese colleagues also have some positive results about the ecology of forest wolves. This species often lives in deep forests; near the fields, near the farm or residential areas in the forest.

After three years, the length of the study period, the European girl suffers from malaria. This is the result of many nights in the forest hunting for traces, tracking the behavior of forest wolves.

Before going back to the country for a few days, in the morning Maria woke up early to go to the commune market, because there was only one market a week to buy souvenirs as gifts for relatives. As soon as she entered the market, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a man carrying two dead forest wolves in the market. Silently, Maria was at a loss for words because it was the first time after three years of searching for Maria that she had the opportunity to look and touch the animal.

Forest wolves can come close to where people live to catch animals.(Photo: Phung My Trung)

After taking a few photos, Maria asked Vietnamese colleagues to find out the cause of catching and trapping this forest wolf. The person who brought the wolf to the market said he caught it when they killed the pig herd of nearly ten children.

Going to the airport, Maria did not forget to remind her colleagues to do something so that people would not hand out to kill wild animals, not just the jungle wolf.

The story of Maria and the forest wolf is an inevitable part of the life struggle between wildlife and human life living near the forest.

Recently, the Vietnamese research team took a picture of the wolf in a survey, sending Maria a tribute to the heavy Scottish woman with wild animals, as well as demonstrating to the existence of this rare animal in Vietnam.