‘Too delicious’: panda caretaker accused of eating protected birds and bragging on social media
Breeding centre in southern China investigating claims its employee broke wildlife conservation laws
A caretaker at a giant panda protection centre in southern China is being investigated for illegally keeping and killing protected animals, a newspaper reported today.
The man, identified only by his surname He, apparently didn’t try to hide his behaviour – for the past year he posted photos on his WeChat account of pet eagles and other protected birds he cooked and ate, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.
In the end, it was a friend who exposed him. A decade ago, He met a man surnamed Liu at a forum on wildlife protection.
Liu noticed the disturbing images that began to pop up on He’s WeChat messaging account and decided to get public attention by posting them on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter.
“His acts constitute illegally keeping and killing animals protected under China’s wild animal conservation law,” the Daily quoted Liu as saying.