Bird hunters caught with protected species
Print Edition
THREE hunters were caught with more than 60 migratory birds — including protected species — at the Nanhui Dongtan Wetlands in the Pudong New Area, police said yesterday.
Officers said they found the trio with a large bag containing birds of a number of species. Most had already suffocated in the bag.
Illegal hunters often catch birds alive in nets and kill them later before selling them to restaurants, officers said.
Among the haul were turtledoves and brown shrike — species that are included in the city government’s protected species list.
The illegal hunters, who were held last Thursday morning about 8am, now face punishment.
This was the second incident of large numbers of birds being killed at the wetlands within a fortnight.
On November 23, more than 80 ducks were found poisoned there, with two empty pesticide bags recovered close by.
The culprits in that incident have not been traced.
Early December sees many migratory birds flying south, with the Nanhui Dongtan Wetlands an important stop off between East Asia and Australia.
It covers 122.5 square kilometers, stretching from Pudong in the north to Hangzhou Bay in the south. Hunting is banned there.
In 2007, the area included 100 square kilometers of wetlands offering a suitable habitat for many birds. A total of 249 species of birds were recorded there between 2006 and 2008 — including 25 protected species.
However, due to the expansion of farmland, aquiculture and industry in recent years, the wetland area suitable for migratory birds has shrunk to 8 square kilometers.
As birds are crowded into a smaller area, they have become more vulnerable to hunters.
The number of waterfowl in the area fell to 25,000 in 2008 from 57,000 in 2006.
In 2009, the local government improved wetlands protection at Nanhui, and the number of birds increased to 30,000 in 2010.
Environmental campaigners have called for the Nanhui wetlands to receive better protection.
The area is listed by the city government as a no-hunting area. But unlike the wetlands in Chongming County — also called Dongtan Wetlands — it is not an environmental protection area.
While agricultural and industrial development is banned in Chongming, it is allowed to take place in Nanhui.
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