Authorities in Xingtai, North China's Hebei Province vowed on Sunday to strengthen a crackdown on excessive hunting and illegal trade in wild birds after media revealed a local underground market in animals sold for mercy releases.
Jia Guoying, deputy director of Xingtai's forestry bureau, said that the forestry and public security bureaus and other relevant government bodies have begun a month-long campaign involving heavy penalties for lawbreakers, China News Service (CNS) reported Sunday.
An inspection at a local bird market on Saturday resulted in the rescue of some 146 wild birds and the confiscation of over 1,000 hunting nets and more than 30 bird traps, CNS added.
Prior to the authorities' pledges, an underground market in the city flourished where people caught and sold wild birds to buyers who then set the birds free in mercy releases, China Central Television (CCTV) reported Saturday.
Mercy releases have become popular in recent years, especially among adherents of Buddhism, but the activity is becoming increasingly controversial as the release of large numbers of some animals in the countryside has affected local residents.
On important Buddhist holy days, people will buy birds worth tens of thousands of yuan for mercy releases, a bird vendor surnamed Sun told CCTV. While live birds will be sold for mercy releases, birds that are dead will usually be sold to restaurants.
Citing an anonymous person who has conducted mercy releases, CCTV reported that people are now going online to buy mercy releasing services from others, who will help them release animals into the wild for as little as 10 yuan ($1.50) per day.
People who purchase over 50 wild animals with the knowledge that they were obtained through poaching can be sentenced to up to seven years in prison, according to Yang Zhaoxia, an associate professor at Beijing Forestry University.
