Are Travel Agencies Organizing Tourists to “Pick Bird Eggs”? Wild Bird Eggs Are Not Something You Can Pick Up!
2020/5/15 11:42:00 本站

May 9th is World Migratory Bird Day. Before that, a bird egg picking advertisement from Jiangxi travel agency attracted controversy.

 

On May 7th, a social media account named “Shangrao branch of the travel agency” released a travel promotion advertisement, which included picking up eggs and giving nourishing wild bird eggs as a characteristic product in the tourism project. This information is put in the prominent position of WeChat advertisement.

 

After the advertisement was published, many animal protectors in China were dissatisfied. The vast majority of wild bird eggs are protected by the relevant laws of the state. The act of picking up bird eggs not only damages the ecology but also may violate criminal law.

 

Now it is still in the epidemic period. The company publicizes the collection and gift of wild bird eggs as a selling point, which has caused many people’s concerns and doubts.

 

Question 1: Where do a large number of wild bird eggs come from?

 

In the advertisement, it said that "Poyang Lake now open for picking up bird eggs for free. If you cannot find any, you will be given a box (200 eggs per box) of wild nourishing bird eggs of Poyang Lake.

 

Yu Fengqin, Deputy Secretary-General of the scientific research committee of China Wildlife Protection Association, said that "it is the season for birds to lay eggs and hatch. Some birds only produce one or two eggs a year. If these eggs are picked up, it will cause extremely serious damage to birds and even threaten the population.

 

If it’s true that what the travel agency advertises is the wild nourishing bird’s eggs in Poyang Lake, where do these large quantities of bird’s eggs come from? In the case of suspected violation of the law, why do travel agencies dare to publicize openly?

 

Question 2: Does Poyang Lake National Wetland Park allow visitors to pick up bird eggs?

 

In the advertising of travel agencies, it is also clearly mentioned that the tourism project enjoys government tourism subsidies. Such absurd publicity and endorsement of government subsidies make people wonder whether the management of Poyang Lake National Wetland Park has not fulfilled its corresponding management responsibilities.

 

According to the Proposal on the Protection of Poyang Lake Ecosystem submitted by China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) in 2017, there are 330 species of birds in Poyang Lake National Nature Wetland Reserve, including 9 species of national first-class key protected birds, 227 species of second-class key protected birds, 23 threatened species in IUCN Red List of endangered species, including two endangered species - Baer’s pochard and Siberian crane. It is called the bird paradise by Poyang Lake, and it is the habitat of migratory birds. There are nearly 600,000 - 700,000 migratory birds that come to Poyang Lake for winter every year.

 

Li Bo, chairman of Hainan Charity Federation and Hainan International Wildlife Protection Center, said that "no matter from the perspective of species diversity protection or wetland ecosystem protection, picking up or giving away wild bird eggs will cause potential damage to bird populations, which is illegal. However, it is inconceivable that there are still people taking this as a tourism project.”

 

Travel agencies maliciously hype in the name of wild animals

 

According to the public’s questions, the reporter contacted Nie Wenkai, deputy general manager of Jiangxi Poyang Lake National Wetland Park. He said that the official account of the "Shangrao branch of the travel agency" on May 6th posting information about "traveling to Poyang Lake to pick up birds and eggs” and did not communicate with Poyang Lake wetland park scenic spot. It is a hype that the travel agency unauthorized to fabricate content.

 

The reporter found that the travel agency is a branch of Jinhua Travel Service Co. Ltd., which is known as Jinhua Travel Service Co., Ltd., Shangrao Xinzhou Branch Company, and the WeChat official account, entitled “Shangrao branch of the travel agency", was registered on April 18th this year. At present, the WeChat content involved has been deleted.

 

On May 9th, after communicating with the head of the travel agency, all the tourism products involved in Poyang Lake National Wetland Park were removed, and the cooperation between the park and the travel agency was terminated. This company has not made any public statement on this matter.

 

According to the Yangtze Evening News, picking up wild bird eggs of any kind may be suspected of damaging wildlife resources. Even some common wild birds, such as sparrows and common moorhen, belong to the category of national “three-have” protected animals. It is a crime to catch or kill more than 20 wild birds without permission. The “animals” here include the whole (including bird eggs), parts and derivatives of wild animals.

 

Article 6 of the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Criminal Cases Involving the Destruction of Wildlife Resources” stipulates that anyone who illegally hunts more than 20 wild animals in the forbidden hunting area, during the forbidden hunting period or by using prohibited tools and methods in violation of the hunting laws and regulations shall be deemed as having serious circumstances of “illegal hunting”.


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Screen capture of the Ad.


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Comments on social media.


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Wild birds in Poyang Lake


Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EzJ3LSRkQ9jJcb-usDIIeg


By / Xue Tongtong Modified / Maggie