Vietnam's threatened species face a growing threat: the hungry mouths of the newly affluent.
A recent survey found half of respondents in Hanoi are in the habit of dining on a wide range of wild reptiles, cats, deer and other rare species at trendy new restaurants in the capital.
That could mean there are now as many as 2 million people in Hanoi alone regularly dining on beasts threatened with extinction. There are 273 types of mammals officially threatened or disappearing in Vietnam, according to Fauna and Flora International, in addition to hundreds of birds, reptile and fish species.
'Eating wild animals has become a social phenomenon in Hanoi,' said Nguyen Dao Ngoc Van, of the conservation group Traffic, which conducted the survey.
'Many respondents said they know some species are under threat of extinction, but they eat them anyway.'
Hanoi residents who admit to a taste for wildlife say there is one major cause of the new trend: a desire to show off newly gained wealth and social status.