14 stand trial for poaching Tundra swans

CHANGSHA - Fourteen people stood trial in Central China's Hunan province for illegally hunting and selling 52 Tundra swans from the Dongting Lake, the second-largest freshwater lake in the country.

According to a court in Xiangyin county, Yueyang city, the poachers captured 52 Tundra swans in Hengling Lake Nature Reserve and sold them for profit from December of 2016 to January, 2017. Those who bought the animals were also indicted.

Prosecutors requested that seven of the poachers should be ordered to pay fines to restore the ecological environment in the nature reserve. However, experts who gave evidence at the trial said the population reduction of such swans has had a direct impact on the ecological balance in Dongting Lake and the restoration costs are immeasurable.

The poachers pleaded guilty in court. The court will announce sentences at a later date.

Dongting Lake, known as "the kidney of the Yangtze River," is one of the most important wetlands in China and the world.