Chinese college student and friend fined and jailed for 10 years for selling protected birds

A college student and his friend who caught and sold more than a dozen protected birds in central China were sentenced to at least 10 years in jail, according to a local newspaper.

During summer last year, the 20-year-old student, surnamed Yan, and his friend, surnamed Wang, took 12 Eurasian hobbies, a species of small falcons, from nests they had found near their village, and began raising them, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported.

One of the young birds died in captivity, and another escaped.

Later, the pair posted the birds’ picture online and sold seven for 800 yuan to a buyer from Zhengzhou, two others for 280 yuan to a person in Luoyang , and another for 150 yuan to a buyer from the village, according to the report.

After selling 10 birds, Yan and Wang caught another four hobbies , which gained the attention of local authorities, leading to their arrest on September 3 last year.

On May 28 this year, Yan and Wan were sentenced to 10.5 years and 10 years in jail respectively for illegally hunting and selling endangered wildlife animals and fined 10,000 yuan and 5,000 yuan each, the report said.