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Ten panda poachers caught in southwest China

Xinhua, May 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ten people were apprehended in southwest China's Yunnan Province for killing a panda, local authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

The suspects allegedly killed a giant panda in Zhaotong, Yunnan. Of the ten, three have been formally arrested, a forestry official told Xinhua.

Pictures posted on China's Sina Weibo by China Central Television (CCTV) showed fur, a skull and two pieces of leg bones seized by police. Police reportedly also seized ten kilograms of meat.

The dead animal was an adult female.

According to CCTV, a sheep belonging to a man named Wang was killed in December. Wang and his brother used a dog to track the predator across a nearby hillside. Only after he shot what he described as a "big animal", did he realize it was a panda. The injured animal climbed a tree, and Wang shot it again.

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. About 1,600 live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, while more than 300 live in captivity. Endi