Public Fury Halts Government-Sponsored Slaughter of Endangered Wildlife

Wild white-lipped deer lives in harmony with monks in a Qinghai Tibetan temple. Photo by Jianqiang Liu.

The Chinese public has won a rare battle against the country’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) by preventing 289 wild animals, including several endangered species, from being hunted down. In August, the SFA, which is formally responsible for wildlife protection, announced plans to auction an autumn license to foreigners interested in hunting wild animals. The announcement marked the first time China had made public the overt hunting of wildlife by foreigners.

SFA printed its short, dozen-word notice in a local newspaper to avoid bringing widespread attention to the hunt. To its dismay, China Youth Daily, an influential national paper, brought the plan to light. The public’s reaction caught SFA off guard: within hours, more than 3,000 messages discussing the plan had been posted on Netease, one of China’s leading Internet service providers. Over the following days and weeks, the news ignited a national debate. As the media followed up on the matter, more hidden information was exposed.

It became apparent that SFA planned to auction licenses for the hunting of 289 wild animals, many of which are endangered and belong to the highest and second-highest categories of protected species. The prices for killing the animals ranged from US$1,500 for a Tibetan antelope to US $2,500 for a Himalayan blue sheep, US$6,000 for a red deer, US$10,000 for an Argali sheep, and as much as US$40,000 for a yak.

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SFA claimed the hunting would not harm wild animal populations, arguing instead that species numbers would grow as a result of hunting in suitable regions. The forestry authority also stated that the hunting was in line with accepted international practice. Wildlife experts, however, were among the first to express concern. “Wild animals and plants in China are not too many in number, and they are still under threat,” said Lu Zhi, a biology professor at Peking University and Country Director of Conservation International China.

Public criticism of the hunting focused on two main concerns: one, that SFA was destroying rather than safeguarding the ecological balance, and two, that SFA hoped to make a profit at the expense of wild animal lives by allowing hunting. The Chinese media provided full coverage of the public’s indignation for two consecutive months.

Chang Jiwen, an environmental law expert with the Institute of Law under China’s Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the implementation of national wildlife protection laws in China has heightened public awareness of and compassion for wild animals. Violence against wildlife is no longer acceptable to people, he says. Another reason for the public opposition, according to Chang, was SFA’s inability to come up with either a strong rebuttal or an authoritative assessment to counter the concerns of many legal and wildlife protection experts. The agency’s dubious attitude exacerbated the public’s suspicion.

Under considerable public pressure, SFA suspended the auction. As the autumn season comes to an end, the 289 wild animals saved from gunpoint will be able to witness the coming of yet another spring.  

Jianqiang Liu is a senior investigative journalist with China Southern Weekend and a visiting scholar at Peking University.

Outside contributions to China Watch reflect the views of the author, and are not necessarily the views of the Worldwatch Institute.