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A Chinese man has been arrested for illegally catching and killing 1,000 protected birds to cook in a hotpot and eat.
The 39-year-old man, identified by local media with the surname Wu, was found on Nov. 7 carrying two large bags filled with dead birds, while riding an electric motorcycle down the mountain in the Zhejiang province of China.
There were also two small sound recorders, which he used to attract his prey into his makeshift bird trap, the Oriental Daily News reported.
Local police received a tip about illegal hunting activities in the mountain near Pingyang County in Wenzhou City, Yahoo News reported.
Wu showed police officers the site where he had put a large trap made with a bamboo pole and a net to catch birds. The investigators found more dead birds abandoned in the net. Wu said he only took live birds to eat later.
Wu captured a total of 948 sparrows and 13 babbling thrushes, also known as babblers, which he killed by breaking their necks using his bare hands to cook them in his hotpot.
Eating captured wildlife has become popular in the country as locals believe it is more nutritious than domesticated captive animals, South China Morning Post reported.
In China, sparrows are considered protected animals with “important economic and scientific research value.” The birds were said to be nearly eradicated after Mao Zedong ordered the extermination of sparrows in the late 1950s to the early 1960s.
Meanwhile, the international community considers the babbling thrush an endangered bird due to habitat loss.
Under China’s Wildlife Protection Law, the illegal hunting of birds is restricted, and the penalties for the offenders include up to three years in jail for killing sparrows and five to 10 years for killing babbling thrushes.
The Shanghai Forestry Bureau issued a public warning against the consumption of wild animals following Wu’s arrest.
“Wild animals live in a rather dirty, complex environment with plenty of pathogenic bacteria. So they harbor many germs,” the statement read. “Eating wild animals will increase the risks of transmission of bacteria, viruses and parasites to humans. It is estimated there are at least 250 zoonotic diseases caused by pathogens.”
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