Chinese villager given suspended one-year jail sentence after eating protected Eurasian sparrowhawk

A Chinese man has been given a suspended one-year jail sentence after killing and eating a protected Eurasian sparrowhawk, mainland media reports.

The man, identified only by his surname of Huang, from Sichuan province, had his prison sentence suspended for 12 months and was also fined 1,000 yuan (HK$1,200), the West China Metropolis Daily reported on Tuesday.

He was convicted of killing a protected bird only after officials spotted photographs he had posted on social media, which showed him killing and eating the small bird of prey last December.

Lin Hong, an officer at the Dazhu county procuratorate’s office, suspected the bird was protected.