Man held for killing wild ducks

By Dong Lu  |   2008-12-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A Shanghai resident was detained yesterday for allegedly killing 64 wild ducks with poison at a protected reserve in Chongming County.

The suspect surnamed Shen, 50, allegedly confessed to putting carbofuran, a highly toxic pesticide, in the Dongtan National Nature Reserve on Chongming Island on Monday afternoon and went to get the ducks the next morning.

Officials of the reserve were tipped off about 10:45am Tuesday that a man carrying three bags of wild ducks was about to leave the nature reserve. Officials stopped Shen on the reserve one hour later.

Three bags hung on Shen's motorbike were filled with 64 Mallards. The Mallard, a migratory bird that prefers wetlands, was listed as a protected animal by the national forestry authority in 2000.

Shen may face criminal charges. Police said they were investigating the case. The Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Administrative Bureau said a poacher faced several years in jail. Hunting 50 or more wild animals is considered a major criminal case under Chinese law.

Officials said the greenery and public sanitation authority would launch a campaign next week to crack down on poaching of migratory birds.

"Every winter poaching cases increase as it comes to the migration time," Gao Xiangwei, an official with the bureau, said yesterday.