Once-thriving peacock farm has its wings clipped by wildlife ban

A visit to a zoo in 1988 led an enterprising young Guangzhou woman to Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan province looking for breeding stock of a peacock that the zoo said was easy to breed and good to eat.

Fang Xiaowen was disappointed. Destruction of poppy crops in the Xishuangbanna area had deprived the birds of their favourite diet and decimated their population, but local trappers helped her procure blue peacocks from Burma.

With the Burmese birds and another 20 research birds that Zhongshan University scientists had no more use for, Ms Fang's company, Yingjili Enterprises, started its peacock farm in Huadu, a satellite city near Guangzhou.

Fifteen years later, the initial stock has grown to 60,000 birds raised by farmers under contract. The state-approved project has expanded to include 40,000 emus.

Peacock meat is stringy, but stewed peacock is full of flavour. Peacock is also valued in Chinese medicine as an antidote for many poisons. It also could be used as a performance enhancer by athletes, company spokesman Li Zhika said. The meat is so popular, restaurants in the Pearl River Delta buy 5,000 peacocks from the company every month. 'We can hardly meet demand,' he said.

But the Sars outbreak and the government response banning the trade and transport of wildlife has thrown the company in limbo and threatens its survival.