(CN) Police probe reports of illegal panda hunting

[Guest guest]

China probes reports of panda hunting

From correspondents in Beijing

December 17, 2007

 

CHINA is investigating reports of illegal wildlife trading in the country's

southwest where locals were offered huge sums of cash for giant panda pelts.

 

Local police have found cases of panda bear hunting in Baoxing county in Sichuan

province, the China Daily newspaper quoted the State Forestry Administration as

saying.

 

" We have sent a working group to supervise the investigations and we will

prosecute anyone involved, " said Cao Qingyao, spokesman for the forestry

administration.

 

The giant panda bear is on China's list of most endangered species and hunting

of it is strictly forbidden.

 

The case came to light after an investigative report published last week in the

respected Southern Weekend said hunters were killing pandas after unidentified

buyers had offered huge sums for their fur.

 

The weekly newspaper said the black and white pelts could fetch up to $US68,000

($79,000), tempting residents of Baoxing, where average annual incomes are less

than 3000 yuan ($470) a year.

 

It was believed 19 pandas had been killed for their skins over the last 20 years

in Baoxing, the Southern Weekend said.

 

Baoxing, dubbed by Chinese media as home of the pandas, counts 143 living panda

bears.

 

Scientists estimate 1590 pandas live in the wild in China, while 239 live in

captivity.

 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22937475-12335,00.html

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

Police probe reports of illegal panda hunting

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2007)

 

State Forestry Administration has ordered forest police in southwestern Sichuan

and Chongqing to investigate reports of illegal panda hunting.

 

The SFA spokesman Cao Qingyao said the administration was intent on establishing

the truth of the media reports.

 

He said local police had detected several cases of illegal panda hunting and

trading in Baoxing County, of Ya'an City, Sichuan Province.

 

" We have sent a working group to supervise the investigations and we prosecute

anyone involved, " he said.

 

The Guangzhou-based Nanfang Weekend newspaper reported on Thursday that

mysterious buyers of panda fur came to Baoxing to persuade villagers to hunt and

kill pandas about two years ago. They said a panda pelt could fetch up to

500,000 yuan (67,567 U.S. dollars) and hunters would get most of money after

they sold the fur.

 

Some villagers, with an average annual income of less than 3,000 yuan (405 U.S.

dollars), took up the offer, the newspaper reported.

 

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species, with 1,590 pandas

estimated to live in the wild, most in southwest China's mountains.

 

The Ya'an reserve, covering 5,300 kilometers, is home to about 300 wild pandas

amd accounts for 52 percent of the animal's natural habitat in Sichuan.

 

In July last year, the World Heritage Committee added the habitat of the

critically-endangered species to its natural heritage list.

 

http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/235757.htm