Chinese skin traders imprisoned

Two Chinese citizens and one from the Myanmar Republic, formerly Burma, have been caught and arrested in the Chinese province of Yunnan, with the skins of 23 Bengali tigers, 33 leopards and 134 sea otters, all of which are animals threatened with extinction.

It is believed the animals were killed in the Myanmar Republic. Their skins were transported to the People’s Republic of China, where they were to be sold in markets around the country for exorbitant prices.

Trading in animal skins or heads (as trophies) is a billion-dollar business around the world. Illegal hunting trips for moneyed tourists and poaching on game reserves carry heavy fines, and even the death penalty in some countries, but so much money is generated that the practice is difficult to eradicate.

Timofei BYELO PRAVDA.Ru