State Forestry Administration has ordered forest police in
southwestern Sichuan and Chongqing to investigate reports of
illegal panda hunting.
The SFA spokesman Cao Qingyao said the administration was intent
on establishing the truth of the media reports.
He said local police had detected several cases of illegal panda
hunting and trading in Baoxing County, of Ya'an City, Sichuan
Province.
"We have sent a working group to supervise the investigations
and we prosecute anyone involved," he said.
The Guangzhou-based Nanfang Weekend newspaper reported
on Thursday that mysterious buyers of panda fur came to Baoxing to
persuade villagers to hunt and kill pandas about two years ago.
They said a panda pelt could fetch up to 500,000 yuan (67,567 U.S.
dollars) and hunters would get most of money after they sold the
fur.
Some villagers, with an average annual income of less than 3,000
yuan (405 U.S. dollars), took up the offer, the newspaper
reported.
Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species,
with 1,590 pandas estimated to live in the wild, most in southwest
China's mountains.
The Ya'an reserve, covering 5,300 kilometers, is home to about
300 wild pandas amd accounts for 52 percent of the animal's natural
habitat in Sichuan.
In July last year, the World Heritage Committee added the
habitat of the critically-endangered species to its natural
heritage list.
(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2007)