(CN) First wildlife hunting license on auction

[Guest guest]

First wildlife hunting license on auction

Shanghai Daily

Gu Jia

2006-08-09

 

CHINA will auction its first wildlife hunting license

and quota this Sunday, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

The license is open to overseas hunters only, Oriental

Morning Post reported today.

 

The State Forestry Administration, while not directly

organizing the auction, has posed strict limitations

on the species and quantity of the wildlife to be

hunted and the hunting area, an official from the

China Wildlife Conservation Association told the

newspaper yesterday.

 

The auction will involve wild animals in Shaanxi,

Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces, the

official said.

 

A tour guide will accompany the overseas hunter to

help and meanwhile make sure that only " male animals

rather than female ones, and older animals rather than

young ones are hunted, " said the report.

 

" Hunters will have to pay for their quarries, " said

the official.

 

The basic price for a wild yak will be US$40,000; for

an ovis ammon US$10,000; a blue sheep will cost

US$2,500; and a cervus elaphus will cost US$6,000,

said the report.

 

" Carnivores and fowls are not included in the

hunting, " the official said. " But wolves are an

exception and will cost US$200 each.

 

" The net income from the auction will be used in

wildlife conservation projects in the above five

provinces, " said the official. " The auction will help

the administration ascertain the market price of

wildlife resources, and the legalization of hunting

licenses will help curb illegal hunts, " the official

said.

 

The hunting license on auction this time is open to

overseas hunters only. " They are allowed to hunt with

their own hunting rifles on approval from the

country's public security authority, " the official

said.

 

Chinese story:

http://www.dfdaily.com/dfchannels/guonei/quanguojiangshoucipaimaiyeshengdongwush\

ouliequan/

 

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/08/09/288626/First_wildlife_hunting_licens\

e_on_auction.htm

..............................

Cost to hunt a yak: $40,000?

Report: China will let tourists hunt endangered

species

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

 

BEIJING, china (Reuters) -- China is to auction

licences to foreigners to hunt wild animals, including

endangered species, a report said.

 

The government would auction licences based on types

and numbers of wild animals, ranging from about $200

for a wolf, the only carnivore on the list, to as much

as $40,000 for a yak, the Beijing Youth Daily

reported.

 

The auction, taking place in Chengdu, capital of the

southwestern province of Sichuan, would be the first

of its kind in Chinese history, it added.

 

'Some animals are from the first and second category

of national wildlife protection, but with the strict

limitations in place, the hunting could not destroy

wild animal populations,' the daily said.

 

The report made no mention of the endangered giant

panda, some 1,500 of which survive in nature reserves

in southwestern China.

 

Five western areas, including Qinghai, Shaanxi and

Gansu provinces and the autonomous regions of Ningxia

and Xinjiang, are involved in the auction.

 

Hunting of animals is popular with Chinese who like to

eat exotic meats or use animal parts in medicines for

their perceived aphrodisiac or medicinal properties.

 

But the hunting licences would be available only to

foreigners, given China's strict rules on gun control,

the daily said.

 

'Hunting is not slaughtering,' it quoted an official

at a wild animal protection department as saying.

 

Proceeds from the auction would be used for wild

animal protection, the report said.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/environment.china.reut/

 

Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.