(CN) Owl smuggling

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China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-01-31/54742.html

Owl smuggling suspects unwise

(MA LIE)

01/31/2002

 

XI'AN: Local police in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province,

seized six suspects who tried to illegally transport and sell owls, which

are rare birds protected by the country's Wild Animals Protection Law.

In the early morning hours on Monday, police stopped a bus at Xi'an Sanqiao

charge station of Xi'an-Baoji Highway and discovered 40 live owls, each in a

paper box, and a number of dead owls in two bags, according to Han Dong, a

police officer with the Xi'an Municipal Police Security Bureau.

 

The driver and two other men on the bus were immediately detained by local

police, and then the investigation started, Han said.

 

Zhang Xiaohui, the driver, told police that the owls belonged to the other

two men, Chang Changzhi and Zhang Guangrong, two farmers living in Baoji, a

municipality in west Shaanxi, the police official said.

 

" We bought these owls from an illegal group selling owls in Xiangwang

village in the eastern suburb of Xi'an. They were priced at 300 yuan

(US$36.14) for one live owl and 100 yuan (US$12.05) for a dead owl, " said

suspect Chang.

 

According to information given by the suspects, local police went to

Xiangwang village and seized another three men - Yu Changlu, Yu Changle and

Yu Changsuo - who are farmers from Luonan, a mountainous county in southern

Shaanxi.

 

The three men admitted that they caught these owls in Shangluo of Shaanxi

and the neighbouring province of Gansu's Tianshui, and planned to sell them

for enormous profits.

 

" We found a total of 51 live owls and 72 dead ones, which shows that this is

a major case according to the animal protection law, " Han said.