Save wildlife - kill a rare animal

£105 To hunt a wolf. Picture / Reuters

BEIJING - Visitors to China keen for a spot of big-game hunting will be allowed to bag an array of weird and wonderful wild animals, including endangered species, if they secure a hunting licence in an auction at the weekend.

Would-be big game hunters can bid to stalk their prey in Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces of western China, according to a forestry official.

However, forestry officials and wildlife conservationists said the hunting did not mean widescale slaughter - the focus of the auction was on conserving rare species.

"The net income from the auction will be used in wildlife conservation projects. The auction will help the administration ascertain the market price of wildlife resources," said the official.

The only predator on the list is a wolf, and a licence to hunt man's oldest enemy is expected to go for around £100 ($300). However, a safari to hunt a rare yak could set you back as much as £21,000.

"Hunters will have to pay for their quarries," said the official.

"Some animals are from the first and second category of national wildlife protection, but with the strict limitations in place, the hunting could not destroy wild animal populations," the official said.

A tour guide will accompany the tourist hunters and ensure that only male animals are killed, not breeding females, and the emphasis is very much on bagging older prey.

Strict gun control laws in China mean only foreigners will be allowed to bid for the licences and their guns will have to be cleared by the Public Security Bureau. Hunting is a popular pastime in China, where people will eat the animals they kill or sometimes use them in Chinese medicine, but is strictly controlled.

The rules are particularly strict when it comes to cherished rare species such as the country's national symbol, the Giant Panda, which was nearly wiped out by a combination of farmers hunting them down as a pest and the gradual eradication of their natural habitat.

There are just 1500 pandas left, most of them in nature reserves in southwest China. Occasional reports emerge of farmers being arrested for hunting them. Anyone caught killing a panda faces a stiff jail sentence.

The State Forestry Administration has imposed strict limitations on the species and quantity of the wildlife to be hunted and the hunting area.

The hunting licences will be allocated based on types and numbers of wild animals.

The auction is the first of its kind in Chinese history and will be at Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province.

In many parts of Tibet and Qinghai, nomads have taken matters into their own hands and disarmed illegal hunters preying on local wildlife, confiscating hunting rifles and traps.

Last month a meeting in Beijing on the international trade of endangered plants and animals heard that the global illicit wildlife trade is now worth more than £6 billion a year, making it the world's third-biggest source of criminal earnings after drugs trafficking and the arms trade.

- INDEPENDENT