Endangered animals on sale in SW China

Photo taken on Oct 23, 2014 shows two caged baby rhesus monkeys in a restaurant in Jiangcheng County, Pu'er City in southwest China's Yunnan Province. [Photo: ThePaper.cn]

Wild animals, including some endangered species, poached from nearby forests have been sold at a fair in the suburb of Pu'er City in southwest China's Yunnan Province that borders Vietnam, the website ThePaper.cn reports.

Several vehicles of the local government were spotted at the fair in Jiangcheng County, the report added.

The animals on sale include rhesus monkeys, muntjac deers, silver pheasants, civets, porcupines, jackals, bears, bamboo ratw and slow loris, all of which are on the list of protected animals in China.

At the fair, a money's head is sold for 300 yuan (49 US dollars), monkey meat for 90 yuan (14.7 US dollars) per kilogram, a kilo of Muntjac deer meat for 110 yuan (17.9 US dollars) and Masked Palm Civet meat for 120 yuan (19.6 US dollars) per kilogram, while a bear paw is priced at 1000 yuan (163.4 US dollars) per kilogram.

The fair that sits on the border opens to both Chinese and Vietnamese citizens, while all of the 20-plus restaurants on the Chinese side serve dishes cooked with wild animal meat.

The local government has not launched any investigation so far.

Local residents revealed that these wild animals mostly came from Vietnam.

A Vietnamese identified as Alai said that some Vietnamese profit through smuggling wild animals that are popular with Chinese diners.