NATIONAL NEWS: Hunting Restrictions Reorganized With Regulated Quotas and Opened to Foreign Hunters

By Shi Rui

The Chinese government auctioned quotas for wild animal hunting for the first time to four mainland agencies on August 13 in Chengdu city, the capital of Sichuan province.

There were hunting quotas for 289 wild animals of 14 species in the auction, all of them herbivores. Takin is the only species of the first category of national wildlife protection while all the other 13 kinds are of the second category.

The base price of the auction is the quarry price set by the government in 1996, such as: $10,500 for a blue sheep, $22,000 for an argali, and $28,000 for a takin, etc.

According to Wang Wei, vice director of the Wildlife and Plant Conservation Division of the State Forestry Administration, the professional hunting could not destroy wild animal populations with the strict limitations in number, time and place. He also mentions that the hunting is restricted to eight areas, including Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, Hunan, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia.

The government started to allow foreigners to hunt wildlife with payment from 1985 in Qinghai province. The action was considered an effective way to collect funds for animal protection and stimulate local people's awareness that wildlife is precious.

"Most of the wild animals killed each year were cooked and eaten by local people. But when they knew a living blue sheep could be sold to international hunters for more than $10,000 in 1985, they stopped hunting it." Wang Wei says, "The profit went back to the local government to rebuild the pasture and to improve the residents' condition of medical treatment."

Every year before 2006, the government would investigate the population and habitat situation of certain species and calculate the hunting quotas. The quotas were then allocated to several domestic agencies, which are qualified to do the international hunting business, and the agencies could sell them to foreign hunters.

The old policy always put forestry officials into a corner when agencies competed for the limited quotas, or when higher officials pressed them to give preference or priority to any certain agency.

"This year's auction mitigates our pressure, because it is open, and therefore fair. It allows no wire-pulling." Wang Wei says, "The quotas go to those offering the highest prices, and personal relationships will be of no use."

The bidders were restricted to only four qualified domestic agencies, including China Wildlife Conservation Association and three other travel agencies, but foreign agencies and even individuals will have a chance to bid in the auction next year.

This article by Ms. Shi Rui was first published in the South China Morning Post -- the editors