Chinanews, Beijing, Dec. 20 – In recent years, there have occurred many cases of giant pandas being killed in Baoxing County, Sichuan. Poachers shot the animals and stripped off their skins for sale. Faced with this situation, the State Forestry Administration recently sent a forestry police team to Baoxing to investigate the case, said Lei Jiafu, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, on Wednesday.

 

Chinese government will shatter any illegal hunting activities, especially those that aim at endangered animal species. Over the past few years, the rangers have devoted hard efforts to crack down on illegal hunting. Recently, the State Forestry Bureau has received a lot of reports about giant pandas being killed in villages in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. The State Forestry Bureau has attached great importance to the issue. It has organized a meeting to discuss the issue and asked related authorities in Sichuan and Chongqing to investigate thoroughly and punish those who involved in the cases. The State Forestry Bureau has also sent its own investigation team to handle the issue, said Lei.

 

Information shows that from 1987 to 1988, Chinese public security departments had handled 37 cases of the killings of giant pandas and the sale of giant pandas skins,with 38 giant panda skins being confisticated. In 2002 and 2007, public media reported two serious giant panda killing cases and the killers were sentenced to ten years in prison.