A recent month-long campaign saw south China's Guangdong Province examine and punish more than 1,300 restaurants and hotels and 102 people involved in poaching, transporting and trading migrant birds and other wild animals, it was announced on Wednesday.
The provincial forestry public security bureau said it launched the migrant bird protection campaign on Oct. 8.
A total of 4,829 law enforcement officials from local governments, public security departments, industrial and commercial administrations, and animal and plant protection departments took part in the campaign, capturing 51,622 migratory birds from markets, restaurants and hotels.
The mild climate in autumn and winter in the southern province attracts billions of birds migrating across the province or staying there every year.
Although the forestry department has strengthened measures to crack down on illegal hunting and trading in recent years, it still faces a lot of difficulties in protecting wild animals.
The department said it will set up a long-term effective management mechanism to intensify supervision and management of wild animal protection.
It will offer rewards to people who report illegal hunting, selling, purchasing or transporting wild animals. It also calls for the whole society to refuse to eat wild animals and boycott illegal animal trades.
In October, the State Forestry Administration ordered local authorities across the country to start screening for illegal activity regarding migratory birds, intensify law enforcement and step up publicity efforts to ensure safe migration.
Forest authorities in the central province of Hunan responded with a campaign running from Oct. 18 to Nov. 20.
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