VietNamNet Bridge – While some big businessmen entertain themselves with the collections of luxurious cars or helicopters, others spend their money on the collections of wild animals.

Wild animals behind bars

The hippos being bred at Dai Nam zoo.

The zoo in the Dai Nam tourism complex owned by Huynh Uy Dung, a well- known billionaire in the south is believed to be the “most valuable and rarest” one, not only in Vietnam but also in the region.

Covering an area of 12.5 hectares, the Dai Nam Zoo is the home of 100 precious and rare animal species, from Indochina tigers to rhinos and langur species.

There at the zoo, South American squirrel monkeys, zebras and hippos can give birth just like in the wild.

The couple of hippos at the zoo were reportedly imported from Israel. Each of which cost Eur17,000, not including the transport fee. After three years of taming them in the 200 square meter semi-wild environment- 50 percent of which is made up of water, the hippos have been growing well.

The sharks’ jaw collections

Fishermen said there are a lot of shark species in the East Sea, but the white shark is the most favorite because of its big and sharp jaws. When catching sharks, fishermen would cut up their jaws to sell to merchants.

The jaws are priced at between hundreds of thousands of dong and over 10 million dong.

Observers noted that collecting shark jaws remains less popular than collecting predator’s claws. However, it is also very hard to “hunt” for fish jaws.

Xuan, a collector in HCM City, said his collection has been admired by a lot of his friends. “In the forest, tigers and bears are the beasts, while in the ocean, white shark is the lord,” he said.

While people collect beasts’ claws - because they believe the claws would make them stronger and help prevent bad things to come, people collect shark jaws just because they like the unique things.

“When you possess the things that other people cannot have, you will feel very satisfied, because this shows you’re high class,” Xuan said.

Billions of dong spent on bird cages

In fact, collecting original birds is no more unfamiliar to Vietnamese. However, this is now for the first time they hear about the “genetic modified birds” collection.

People whisper in each others’ ears that a genetic modified bird owned by a rich man in Hanoi has the value equal to a luxurious car. The owner of the bird stated on a website that a person sent intentions that he wanted to buy the bird at $10,300. However, the owner refused to sell the bird.

Bui Duy Dat in Quang Yen town of Quang Ninh province has been well known among bird collectors, with 350 cages and 400 birds of different species.

The bird’s cages alone cost big money. According to Dat, a cage is worth VND5-10 million. Meanwhile, Dat’s bird total asset is worth up to over VND1 billion.

Dat has to spend VND200 million a year just on the feed for the birds and cleaning services.  If noting that every bird needs VND1,500 worth feed every day, the 400 birds would gobble up VND600,000 a day.

Kim Chi