A HUGE bird-catching net with dozens of dead bats in it was found by citizens at a vegetable field near the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden at the foot of Wutong Mountain on Saturday morning, Shenzhen Evening News reported.

The Shenzhen wildlife protection department and the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden have intervened. At present, the bird-catching net has been removed and an investigation is in progress.

The bird-catching net was found by a citizen surnamed Chen and his companions at about 10 a.m. Saturday, as they were passing by the vegetable field near the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden. Taking a closer look, they found many dead bats hanging from the net.

According to Chen, the net is about 30 to 40 meters long and 7 to 8 meters high and has become a “death trap” for birds. Chen and his companions counted the bodies of more than 30 bats on the net, which appeared to have been dead for some time.

In addition, entangled wings of an unknown bird were also found on the net. It is suspected that the bird had got caught in the net and had been dead for a long time, and the wings were left behind after the body decomposed.

The Fairy Lake Botanical Garden quickly sent security personnel to the scene to dismantle the bird-catching net after receiving the report. Subsequently, the city’s wildlife protection department and the relevant person in charge of the garden went to the scene to collect evidence and report the case to the police.

In January this year, a circular on prohibiting terrestrial wildlife hunting issued by the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government was officially promulgated and put into effect.

It is clearly stipulated that hunting protected terrestrial wildlife in the administrative regions of Shenzhen is forbidden. Nature reserves, scenic spots, forest parks, geoparks, wetland parks, country parks and municipal parks are permanently no-hunting areas.

Additional areas in Shenzhen, other than the above-mentioned areas, prohibit hunting from Dec. 18, 2019 to Dec. 17, 2024.

According to the city’s wildlife protection department, the whole city of Shenzhen is a no-hunting area, and the government has maintained zero tolerance for the illegal hunting and killing of wild animals. (Zhang Yu)