vnexpress.net By Ngoc Tai   December 1, 2023 | 06:20 am GMT+7

Two Phu Quoc Ridgebacks at a conservation center in Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc TaiLe Quoc Tuan, 59, has spent nearly 30 years looking for and protecting the Phu Quoc Ridgeback, and now runs a conservation center with over 400 of the dogs.

Ever since he was young, Tuan, who lives in Kien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, has been going into the buffer zone of the U Minh forest to look for plants and animals and support his family. One day, when he got lost in the forest, he climbed on top of a tree to sleep, and his dog refused to leave his side.

Since then he has been dreaming about finding rare dog species to conserve them.

Once after completing college he went on a business trip to Phu Quoc and learned about the Phu Quoc Ridgeback and its unique characteristics like webbed feet, dorsal ridges and great swimming expertise, and decided to protect this species.

In 1999 he bought 2,000 m2 of land in Phu Quoc for VND200 million (US$8,270) to set up a farm and looked for purebred puppies.

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