Published:  00:00 Sunday - October 18, 2009

A ceremony was held at the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh on October 17 to mark the park’s decade-long cooperation with the Cologne Zoo of Germany.

Ten years ago, Germany ’s Cologne Zoo embarked on a nature conservation project signed with Quang Binh under which it was committed to helping the local authorities enforce conservation of biodiversity and endangered fauna and flora at the Phong Nha-Ke Bang park.

The Cologne Zoo has also assisted the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park to build a rescue centre for wild animals. The centre was designed for the accommodation, quarantine, feeding and breeding of small to medium-sized mammals, but it also included enclosures for turtles.

Since 1999, the Cologne Zoo has coordinated with the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in conducting research on amphibian and reptile. The two units have discovered 14 new species of reptiles and 10 new species of fish and a detailed list of 96 reptile species and 45 amphibian species at the park.