A zoo worker in the east China's port city of Qingdao has been
found guilty of killing several wild animals in the zoo.
A
local court has found that Wang Deyi, 43, killed two Malay bears
and five rare species deer and injured a leopard by repeatedly
mixing raticide in the animals' food in September and October last
year.
The animals were all under special preservation by the government,
a forestry official told the court.
The official said the Malay bears, leopards and the deer were
respectively valued at 50,000 yuan (US$6,000), 75,000 yuan and
2,500 yuan each.
The zoo worker told the court that his illegal acts were "out of
anger towards his boss", and pleaded guilty for having caused heavy
economic losses to the zoo and invoked widespread outrage in
society.
Court sentence will be made later, said a source with the local
court.
(eastday.com April 2,
2002)
