Beijing acts to increase protection of animals

At a large forest park in eastern Beijing, 11 birds on the state-level protection list, including four mandarin ducks and two night herons, were recently released.

These birds had recovered after the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center rescued them.

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak, the city has rescued over 800 wild animals, with half of them on the country’s first or second-level protection lists.

“We will speed up our efforts to push the establishment of district-level wildlife rescue centers to jointly guard the health of wildlife,” said Du Lianhai, director of the center.

The center was set up in 2001 and built a 16-hectare wildlife rescue base in Shunyi District in 2005. Staff at the base have rescued and rehabilitated more than 30,000 wild animals in total.

Wildlife protection has been strengthened in Beijing in recent years.

On June 1, the city’s newly adopted regulation on wildlife protection took effect, introducing stricter and more concrete measures to protect the environment and wildlife.

The regulation stipulates that Beijing bans hunting throughout the year, compared with the previous regulation which bans hunting during the periods of March to May and September to November.

The new regulation also gives harsher punishment for poachers.

“It is the most stringent local law on wildlife protection in Beijing’s history and will provide a stronger legal guarantee for the city’s wildlife protection,” said Zhang Zhiming, an official in charge of wildlife and wetlands protection of the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau.

According to the new regulation, Beijing will formulate a protection plan for wild animals and their habitats, compile a list of key wildlife habitats, and conduct a once-every-five-year survey on wildlife.