Ten wild Saker falcons, a favorite pet of the rich in the Middle East, which had been smuggled into Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland, were set free last Friday in the Beijing Songshan State Nature Reserve, 70 km northwest of the downtown area.
The birds (Falcon Herrug Milvipes in Latin), the smallest species of hawk, were jointly released by officials from the forestry, customs and the quarantine of animals and plants departments of the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) who cooperated in the rescue.
Watching the Saker falcons flying free towards the horizon, Wang Ziming, a forestry official said: “Putting them back in nature where they belong is required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).”
To ensure their survival in the wild, Hong Kong experts gave them a careful health checkup and trained them for survival in the wild for six months.
The release shows the government’s firm stand against the smuggling of birds by foreign poachers seeking huge illegal profits and the government’s cooperation with the HKSAR in the protection of wildlife, Chen Jianwei, deputy director of the China Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, said.
China has the world’s largest population of Saker falcons. High prices (up to US$200,000 per well-trained bird in Middle Eastern markets) and greedy poachers are making this bird an endangered species, experts warned.
Over the past four years, more than 200 endangered animals and animal products smuggled into Hong Kong have been seized.
(China Daily 07/07/2001)
