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From each September to November period, migratory falcons under second-class state protection stop off on their southward flight in "Xihaigu" of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to hunt for food. In doing so, they have attracted poachers and smugglers from the Middle East, where there exists a long tradition of falconry, for the last 15 years.

Xihaigu is a comprehensive term for Xiji, Haiyuan counties and Guyuan City. "It has become a 'golden triangle' for falcon trafficking," Ma Xiaobo from Haiyuan's public security bureau was quoted by The Beijing News as saying on November 21.

Owing to the government's protective policy, according to Xinhua News Agency, from 1993 to 2001 China only exported 180 falcons to the Middle Eastern countries. Thus underground smuggling ran rampant. In 1996 alone, 140 illicit entrances to Xiji were made by Middle Easterners, and 100 cases resulted in fines for those poaching or illegally purchasing falcons.

In Ningxia the purchasing price of a high-quality falcon has risen from 4,000 yuan (US$509) in 1991 to 20,000-50,000 yuan (US$2,543-6,358) in 2001, with the price rising to over US$100,000 on overseas markets. Driven by huge profits, many local people also share in the scheme.

Severe drought has made Xihaigu one of China's poorest regions. All of a sudden, farmers in Haiyuan with a per capita income of less than 500 yuan (US$64) a year view falcon hunting as a way of making quick money.

In addition to tipping foreign smugglers off about police operations, they also offer to raise the captured falcons until the birds are transported to Urumqi or Beijing, making it extremely difficult for the police to break these smuggling cases.

There exists a long tradition of falconry in the Middle East.

According to Xinhua News Agency, from 1992 to 1995 Xinjiang, Gansu and Qinghai customs and police seized over 1,000 smuggled falcons and caught some 3,000 poachers, most of them being local farmers.

To apprehend a foreign suspect demands very complicated legal procedures. "Such cases usually involve the country's foreign and religious policies as well as other sensitive issues," said Shen Zhaoquan from Guyuan's public security bureau. "They have to be submitted from one level to another, and both the Foreign Ministry and foreign embassies in Beijing need to be informed."

Due to the difficulties of evidence-gathering, the local police have been forced to refuse to extend the passports of some foreign suspects, who can however get it done easily in other provinces of the country.

So far only a couple of foreigners implicated in two falcon smuggling cases in Ningxia have met with criminal punishment, with the harshest penalty being a five-year prison sentence, according to the autonomous region's forestry public security bureau.

After 2001 smugglers gradually gave up Beijing and Urumqi international airports where strengthened inspection increased risks but turned to airports in Tianjin, Qingdao and Guangzhou to transport falcons. Sometimes they even made a detour to Singapore and Thailand before flying back to the Middle East.

Smugglers often bind the birds to prevent them from moving or crying. Sturdy as they are, a number of falcons packed in luggage, some even having their eyes stitched up, cannot survive the long flight.

Smuggled falcons seized by the customs.

According to Xinhua News Agency, among the falcons seized at the customs, over half have become disabled or died from torture.

On September 19 a coordination meeting was held in Guyuan City to discuss ways of protecting the falcons. The meeting called for the police and forestry departments to set up a joint defense against poaching and trafficking. However, both operate under financial constraints.

Taking Haiyuan County as an example, it has only eight rangers to take care of security, fire prevention and grazing prohibition in the forest area. Therefore, it is beyond their ability to pay extra attention to the falcon issue.

Similarly, for the county's seriously understaffed public security bureau with some 20 criminal policemen, it is already a tough job maintaining peace and order, let alone dealing with the thorny, foreign-related falcon smuggling cases.

What's more, to handle such cases needs professional interpreters, and suspects in custody with certain religious beliefs will have special needs. "In the light of national standards each police officer has an annual administrative fee of 20,000 yuan (US$2,543) on average, but what we actually receive is no more than 2,500 yuan (US$318) per head. Thus we cannot afford these overhead expenses," Shen Zhaoquan complained.

(The Beijing News, translated by Shao Da for china.org.cn, November 23, 2006)