10,000 Animals Seized in Crackdown by Guangdong Police

By Jesse Pottinger, July 27, 2017

Guangzhou police announced on Monday that they have seized over 10,000 wild animals, along with close to 1,000 kilograms of animal products since they began cracking down on the illegal online animal trade in April, according to Xinhuanet.

Police began their efforts after it was reported that animal trade was being conducted through WeChat. In the three months since, Weibo, WeChat and QQ, along with a number of live streaming sites have been closely monitored by authorities.

Despite laws in China forbidding state-protected animals and their products from being bought, sold or hunted, the operation revealed that animal trafficking in Guangdong alone remains a huge problem.

A total of 5,380 messages relating to the illegal sale and distribution of animals were uncovered, which police then traced back to perpetrators throughout the province.

At one property in Zengcheng, Guangzhou, they found 146 animals. Among them: gold pythons, rhesus monkeys and African spurred tortoises.

At another location in Huizhou, authorities discovered the deceased remains of 120 state-protected animals.

Following the discovery of a video on a live streaming site in which suspects were shown poaching animals, Shaoguan police confiscated a Tibetan macaque along with 74 cobras.

In yet another instance, Guangzhou authorities seized over 1,000 animals, including 32 cobras, from a vehicle at a Guangzhou market.

Guangdong police have vowed to continue the campaign against the illegal animal trade, with efforts to combat every level of the operations.

Throughout China, demand for ivory products has fuelled the rapid decimation of elephant populations in Africa, and Chinese authorities have pledged to end the illegal ivory trade by the end of 2017.

[Images via Tencent News]