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Tianjin offers 50,000 yuan to nab bird poachers
By Shen Li |
November 20, 2012, Tuesday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
The government of Tianjin Municipality is offering 50,000 yuan (US$8,020) for tips that lead to the arrest of bird poachers who poisoned many endangered oriental storks to death, the Beijing News reported.
Tianjin police have started probing the case after wildlife volunteers found 22 dead storks and saved 13 poisoned storks in the Beidagang Wetland Reserve.
More than 50 poachers, about half of them from other places, pose a serious threat to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds that stop for food in the wetland near Tianjin, the paper said.
Many of them are "professional killers" who know the bird's habitats and follow them all the way on their route of migration, said a bird hunter named Lin Long.
These people spread pesticide-laced corns over mudflats to kill swans and wild gooses and pour pesticides directly in small ponds to lure gulls and storks. A 500g pack of carbamate pesticide costs just tens of yuan but can kill 40,000 birds, the Beijing News said.
Nearby restaurant owners purchase wild birds from poachers and sell them to buyers across the country. An oriental stork is priced at 200 yuan (US$32 yuan) each; a wild goose sells for 400 yuan; and a swan is worth up to 1,000 yuan, Lin told the paper.
Some people may feel slight drunkenness if they eat a poisoned bird, but many are unaware of this because they also drink beer or wine, said Zhang Shuai, a wildlife protection official in Beijing. "But the toxicity of pesticides has long-lasting damage to human livers," Zhang added.
Nearby villagers said at least three restaurants serve wildlife meat to customers but they all stopped serving after media reports about the slaughter of migrating birds in the wetland.
Local authorities have pumped water into the toxic ponds to dilute pesticide poison.
Wang Chuanwei, a lawyer, said people who kill more than four protected animals can be sentenced up to ten years in prison and have their properties confiscated according to the Chinese Wildlife Protection Law.
Tianjin police have started probing the case after wildlife volunteers found 22 dead storks and saved 13 poisoned storks in the Beidagang Wetland Reserve.
More than 50 poachers, about half of them from other places, pose a serious threat to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds that stop for food in the wetland near Tianjin, the paper said.
Many of them are "professional killers" who know the bird's habitats and follow them all the way on their route of migration, said a bird hunter named Lin Long.
These people spread pesticide-laced corns over mudflats to kill swans and wild gooses and pour pesticides directly in small ponds to lure gulls and storks. A 500g pack of carbamate pesticide costs just tens of yuan but can kill 40,000 birds, the Beijing News said.
Nearby restaurant owners purchase wild birds from poachers and sell them to buyers across the country. An oriental stork is priced at 200 yuan (US$32 yuan) each; a wild goose sells for 400 yuan; and a swan is worth up to 1,000 yuan, Lin told the paper.
Some people may feel slight drunkenness if they eat a poisoned bird, but many are unaware of this because they also drink beer or wine, said Zhang Shuai, a wildlife protection official in Beijing. "But the toxicity of pesticides has long-lasting damage to human livers," Zhang added.
Nearby villagers said at least three restaurants serve wildlife meat to customers but they all stopped serving after media reports about the slaughter of migrating birds in the wetland.
Local authorities have pumped water into the toxic ponds to dilute pesticide poison.
Wang Chuanwei, a lawyer, said people who kill more than four protected animals can be sentenced up to ten years in prison and have their properties confiscated according to the Chinese Wildlife Protection Law.
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