Hanoi - A court in southern Vietnam has sentenced two men to prison for killing a gayal, an endangered species of forest ox, a judge said Friday.

   A district court in the southern province of Ninh Thuan sentenced Bon To Sa Nga, 46, to 42 months in prison, and Chil Ha Thuyen, 35, to 36 months.

   The two were arrested outside Phuoc Binh National Park in October, 2008, carrying the meat of a gayal they had just shot. Both are members of the Co Ho ethnic minority, whose 145,000 members have a strong hunting tradition.

   Han Lam Vien, the judge who sentenced the two men, said both had been convicted of violating laws on the protection of rare animals. In addition, Nga, who carried the rifle the two used to shoot the gayal, was convicted of illegal possession of a military weapon.

   "We have had several cases of poaching in recent years, but we could not sentence anyone because investigators could not find enough evidence," Vien said. "This is the first time we can put them in prison."

   Vietnamese authorities have taken increasingly serious action against poachers in recent months.

   On Monday, police arrested three men for killing five rare black-shanked Douc langurs in the Hon Ba Nature Reservation in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

   On February 28, two poachers were charged with killing two black-shanked Douc langurs on the nearby Hon Heo Peninsula.

   Eating wild animals is highly popular in Vietnam, where many animals are considered to have medicinal and spiritual qualities. As a result, many local species have been driven to the brink of extinction.