The income from selling China's wild animal hunting quotas to domestic hunting agencies will be used solely for wildlife protection efforts, a senior official vowed yesterday.

The number of animals entering the auction will be very limited and will not harm species diversity, according to Du Yongsheng, director of the police division of the State Forestry Administration.

The administration had planned to hold China's first auction of hunting quotas in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, on August 13, selling quotas for about 200 species.

But after media outcry, the administration decided to postpone the auction because of strong opposition from the public that the auction was profit-driven and would affect endangered wildlife in China.

A specific date for the auction has not been decided yet.

In response to the criticism, Du said at a news conference yesterday that the total income from the auction would be used for wildlife protection, and strict scientific evaluation is required to decide the number of animals entering the auction.

He said the auction is in line with China's Forestry Law and Law on the Protection of Wildlife, and it is an international practice to hunt a certain number of wild animals if there are too many of them.

"For example, kangaroos are valuable in Australia. But the big population has harmed the environment, so the Australian Government allows certain quotas for kangaroo hunting every year," Du said.

But he stressed that any hunting without a licence is illegal in China, and is under close watch fromforestry police.

Xinhua reported that Chinese and foreigners would be allowed to bid on the right to hunt animals, but as Chinese are prohibited from owning firearms, they face restrictions.

Foreigners were previously allowed to hunt in China only after a complicated application process. By the end of last year, China had earned US$36.39 million by allowing 1,101 foreigners to hunt 1,347 animals since 1985.

Du also said that the police would insure better management of confiscated wildlife products in the future. "Instead of burning them, we may give them to schools to be specimens," he said.

The Chinese Government has launched a number of crackdowns on illegal hunting in the past few years, such as the one on the protection of the Tibetan antelope. The numbers of the antelope are now starting to increase.