Volunteers save 3,000 illegally hunted birds in North China

Over 3,000 birds were saved in North China's Tianjin and Tangshan over the National Holiday. Two illegal hunting areas were uncovered by volunteers trying to protect the birds.

A trammel net reaching a length of over 20,000 meters was removed. The net caused the death of more than 5,000 birds, including several nationally protected animal species, a volunteer said.

Bird migration is in boom season and hunting and killing the wild birds has simultaneously reached a peak.

Three global migratory flyways are within China's territory. Two routes pass through Tianjin. This makes the municipality a target, and it serves as a resting, feeding and wintering ground for birds migrating along the East Asian-Australasian route.

Bird rescue volunteers, operating since the end of September, found nine Oriental Scops Owls, the second class of protected Chinese birds. Three of them were released, one sent to a relief station, and other four killed by illegal hunters.

The volunteers say the trammel net was arranged by professional hunting teams and noticed as the largest of its kind in the past three years.

China's laws protecting wildlife identify illegal hunting of over 100 terrestrial wild animals as serious cases.

So far, one suspect involved has been captured, and further investigation is underway.