Poaching a ‘major, overlooked threat’ to biodiversity in China, study finds

More than one-fifth of amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species in China are being poached, mostly for food and traditional medicines, according to an analysis of court convictions for illegal hunting.

Researchers looked at more than 9,200 convictions from 2014 to 2020 for the study. They found that just 5 per cent of them – mainly in the eastern and central parts of China – accounted for 90 per cent of the animals that were hunted, pointing to large commercial poaching operations.