Mainland authorities have drawn up plans to air-drop shrimp and maize to feed hundreds of thousands of birds facing starvation as a result of a severe drought affecting the country's largest freshwater lake.
Poyang Lake, in Jiangxi, has shrunk to less than 200 square kilometres, about 5 per cent of the area it can reach at full capacity, Xinhua reports.
The water level at the Duchang hydrometric station fell to 7.95 metres last week, the lowest in the six decades records have been kept.
A publicity official at the Jiangxi Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve Authority said it was ready to implement the air drop if needed.
'We have this plan to be prepared for emergencies,' she said yesterday. 'We have staff [who] patrol around the lake every day and once they find birds dead of hunger, we think that means food is in short supply and it's the time for humans to add more food.'
Poyang Lake, one of the biggest wintering grounds in Asia for migratory birds such as the hooded crane, has received half a million birds this winter, Xinhua said.