Giant panda caretaker arrested for eating endangered birds
A caretaker at a giant panda protection centre in southern China is being investigated for keeping and eating endangered birds.
The man, known only by his surname He, was identified after he posted pictures of his conquests on social media, the Daily Mail reported.
Mr He had apparently been posting pictures of pet eagles and other protected birds that he cooked and ate on the social site Weibo.
On one post he had written: “This is too delicious”.
The images were spotted by local wildlife protection official, Liu Pan, who shared them on his own page.
When the images went viral, Mr He’s behaviour was reported to police and he was arrested.
The Daily Mail reported Mr Liu as saying the acts constituted “illegally keeping and killing animals protect under China’s wild animal conservation law”.
“There were lots of photos but in the end I took four, two of eagles and two bowls containing skinned birds with the caption: ‘This is too delicious,’” he said.
Mr He, who works at the Bifengxia Panda base in Sichuan province, reportedly told police the images were of birds that were to be released back into the wild.
