Chinese man convicted of catching, killing rare snake

GUANGZHOU -- A villager in South China's Guangdong province received a jail term of one year, with a two year suspension, for capturing and killing a rare 2-meter-long snake.

The man surnamed Wu captured the 10-kilogram python in a rural area of Fengkai county with the help of another man at around 11 am on Dec 15, 2016, the county court said.

Wu paid the man 300 yuan ($47) to help capture the snake, and killed it later that day.

Police found the suspect after a fellow villager uploaded a photograph of Wu catching the snake, on social networking app WeChat.

The python breed is on the first class state protection list.

Located at the border of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Fengkai is home to several rare wildlife species, such as pythons and monitor lizards. The county has two nature reserves.