Two herdsmen were sentenced to eight and 10 years in prison respectively for killing a snow leopard in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said local authorities Sunday.

The two men were convicted of illegally catching and killing rare and endangered wild animals and fined at Manas County People's Court on Feb. 28, said Yang Jianwei, a publicity official of Manas County Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The two men set an animal trap after their sheep had been preyed on by wild animals. When a snow leopard was caught by the trap, they stoned it to death and gave its fur, bones and internal organs to others.

The wildlife protection office of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture confirmed that the animal they killed was a snow leopard, Yang said.

In January 2010, five suspects allegedly killing two snow leopards were arrested by the Public Security Bureau of Luntai County, Xinjiang. Four people were sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing and selling four snow leopards on Nov. 19, 2008.

Snow leopards live between 3,000 and 5,500 meters above sea level in the rocky mountains in central and south Asia. It is estimated that only four or five thousand exist in the wild. In China, they can be found in Xinjiang, Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region.