Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment

VietNamNet Bridge – During his meals or on the way, Rick Passaro always thought about things that are related to langurs, because he knew that langurs need him.

The luggage of Rick Passaro, a 55-year-old American man, to Cat Ba Island over one year ago consisted of several old cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, books and clothes. He came to the island to protect rare langurs that were on the brink of extinction.

Among seven species of langurs in Vietnam, Cat Ba langur is the rarest. Since 2000, Cat Ba langur has become one of the 25 most endangered species in the world, with only 60-70 individuals in nature.

“Langurs need me,” Passaro, a wildlife preservation specialist, said when he was asked why he came to Vietnam. He did not know about the Cat Ba langur until he read an online recruitment advertisement.

“The more I read and learned about matters of the Cat Ba langur in Vietnam, the more I knew that this is an interesting project and a big challenge. That challenge was attractive to me,” he said.

His new life on Cat Ba Island began with difficulties and impatience. “I did not have a chance to see Cat Ba langurs by my own eyes,” he recalled.

“Rick adapted very quickly,” his Vietnamese colleagues said. “My previous foreign bosses needed Vietnamese people help to go around the island but Rick usually drives his motorbike from the national park to the Cat Ba town,” Pham Van Tuyen, a member of the Cat Ba langur preservation project said.

As the project’s manager, Passaro thought about langur everytime, everywhere. The first time he came to Vietnam, on a flight of Vietnam Airlines, he saw the lotus icon. He was told that lotus is Vietnam’s national flower. “What is the icon animal of Vietnam?” he asked himself and tried to seek the answer on the Internet.

“Tiger? Many Asian countries also have tiger. Buffalo? Some Southeast Asian countries also have that animal. Dragon is unreal,” he argued. “Why is not the Cat Ba langur considered as Vietnam’s national animal?” he asked his Vietnamese colleagues.

“In the world, only Vietnam has the Cat Ba langur and more importantly, who dares to make the national animal going extinct?”

Over ten years since the project was launched, Passaro was the first person who suggested to set up “photo traps” (automatic cameras) in caves to observe the life of Cat Ba langurs. Thanks to Passaro’s initiative, scientists have had pictures and even films about the Cat Ba langur in caves.

Passaro’s passion for work and his creativeness have spread to his colleagues. “The biggest thing I have learned from Rick--is the passion for job, eagerness for learning and restless spirit for the cause of preservation,” Tuyen said.

Cat Ba langurs.

Like other scientists, Passaro said that wildlife preservation is not a lucrative job. “I’m single. I have no wife, no children. Working here I earn enough to pay for myself because I don’t have to breed and take care of anyone,” he said and laughed loudly.

Hearing his ebullient voice, one cannot imagine that this man, from New York, is 55.

“I’m not a superman. I do not always wake up in the morning and scream: Yeah, I’m on Cat Ba and I will rescue langur! Actually, I’m angry: “why is the power cut? Oh my god, water supply is cut again?” he said jokingly.

There are a lot of difficulties but when he talked about langur, Passaro exposed his passion for this species.

The Cat Ba langur preservation project is combined with the US Embassy to organize a painting competition to encourage the community to protect this endangered species.

Seeing pictures of two young men who ill-treated and killed langurs in Quang Ngai, Passaro was very angry. “I and my colleagues have talked about this case for several days. These men were so cruel,” he said.

Compiled by Mai Huong

(VietNamNet Bridge)