Couple who poisoned birds to be schooled in ecological protection

A couple who poisoned wild birds on Shanghai's Chongming Island will perform two years of ecological service work in the area, according to the Shanghai Railway Transport Procuratorate.

The couple - a man surnamed Shen and his wife, surnamed Chen - must also pay 30,000 yuan ($4,400) for environmental conservation. The husband was sentenced to seven months in prison.

The pair, who were detained in August on suspicion of illegal hunting, laid poisoned wheat seeds in open farmland on Chongming Island in July and August, killing 1,763 wild birds, including a Chinese spotted neck dove, oriental turtle dove and red turtle dove, which are of high research and economic value.