A COURT in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province upheld the verdict of two men who killed a highly endangered crested ibis and were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

According to the intermediate people’s court in Tongchuan City, the two men used a slingshot to injure a white bird in June 2016 and took it to their car. They noticed a hoop on its foot with a code on it, feared they might be investigated and abandoned the bird on the roadside.

The endangered birds were coded by forestry workers who tracked their whereabouts for conservation purposes. The bird was found dead by the city’s wildlife protection station, which identified it as a crested ibis, a bird once thought extinct.

The court of Yaozhou District in Tongchuan City sentenced the two men to eight and 10 years in prison, respectively, and fined them 3,000 yuan (US$460) in December 2017 for poaching State protected wildlife. Both appealed.

The intermediate people’s court in Tongchuan City upheld the original judgment yesterday and the rulings are final.

(Xinhua)