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Five arrested for killing rare snow leopards in NW China

Xinhua, January 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Police in northwest China have arrested five suspects involved in poaching endangered wild animals, including two snow leopards.

The five people were arrested last Tuesday after a two-month investigation, said the Public Security Bureau of Delhi City, Qinghai Province.

Police seized bodies of two snow leopards and one golden eagle, both on the country's top protection list, as well as six bharals, six goitred gazelles and three argali sheep, which are also protected species, in the houses of the suspects.

The five confessed to their poaching of endangered wild animals, said the bureau. Police are still investigating the case.

Qinghai in the east of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, boasts more than 70 protected wild animal species, such as snow leopards and Tibetan antelopes.

Under Chinese law, a person convicted of poaching and killing endangered wild animals can receive a life sentence.

Snow leopards are usually found in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Pamir Plateau at altitudes over 3,500 meters, with a number of less than 5,000 worldwide, including about 2,000 in China.

Snow leopards have been spotted often in recent years in northwest China due to local ecological protection efforts. Endi