College student jailed for poaching 12 endangered birds

A college student was sentenced to jail terms of ten years and six months for hunting 12 endangered birds during his summer vacation, according to a local court on Wednesday.

The court of Huixian county in central China's Henan province heard that Yan, born in 1994, was college student in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan. He caught 12 Eurasian hobbies on July 14 last year with a friend surnamed Wang.

One of the birds died while another escaped. The remaining ten were sold via the internet for more than 1,000 yuan (about 156.3 U.S. dollars).

The pair caught two more Eurasian hobbies on July 27, as well as two other falcons, before they were put into custody by the forestry police bureau of Huixian county.

Yan also illegally bought a crested goshawk.

Crested goshawk and Eurasian hobby are both Class-B protected animals in China.

The court fined Yan 5,000 yuan for illegally hunting endangered wild animals and another 5,000 yuan for trading such animals, and sentenced him to ten and a half years imprisonment. They fined Wang 5,000 yuan, and sentenced him to jail terms of ten years for poaching.

Both men appealed after the ruling, but the Intermediate People's Court of Xinxiang city upheld the verdict of Huixian court, citing "gross violation" in the case. Endi