China Puts Price on Head of Rare Animals

The Chinese government is inviting bids from foreign tourists for the right to hunt endangered species under a kill-to-conserve campaign, a newspaper reported today.

In the first auction, which will take place on Sunday in Chengdu, capital of the south-western province of Sichuan, the starting price for a permit to shoot a wild yak, of which there are fewer than 15,000 remaining in the world, is $40,000 (£21,000). Bids to bag an argali (wild sheep prized for their massive spiral horns) begin at $10,000. Wolves - the only predator on the list - may go for as little as $200.

The Beijing Youth Daily said this was the first time China had auctioned hunting licences, a move that looks likely to provoke controversy.

The Communist party-run newspaper said the listed animals were from the top two categories of endangered species. They include the red deer and the zang yuanling, a type of antelope. Only qualified foreign hunters and overseas hunting organisations will be allowed bids to stalk and kill the animals in five of the poorest provinces in western China: Qinghai, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang.

The auction, which will be overseen by the state forestry administration, has been introduced to raise funds for conservation and to cull species that reach unsustainable levels in certain areas, the newspaper reported.

"Hunting is not slaughtering," it quoted an official at a wild animal protection department as saying.

Until now, international hunting groups have had to apply on a case-by-case basis to shoot protected animals in China. Poaching - usually by impoverished local hunters - is common. Argali are sold in street markets for less than £50. The horns of endangered antelopes and deer, which are sold for use in traditional medicine and as aphrodisiacs, are even cheaper.

The World Wildlife Fund declined to comment.

Up for auction

• Wild yak: $40,000

• Argali: $10,000

• Red deer: $6,000

• Blue sheep (bhanal): $2,500

• Wolf: $200