Probe launched into illegal eagle trade

BEIJING: Police are investigating the illegal sales of eagles through live webcast platforms, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

A Weibo user posted 18 microblogs on Saturday, showing video clips in which unnamed eagle sellers are live-streaming the eagles they caught or raised. The sellers are said to be from Anhui, Shandong, Hebei and Hunan provinces.

One of the microblogs claimed that a seller from Changsha of Hunan province has an alarming number of raptors at hand, and has been involved in the illegal business for a long time. Several live-streaming videos run subtitles claiming the eagles are for sale, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The official Weibo account of Hunan provincial public security department said that it has launched an investigation, and will publish results in time. The whistle-blower said the videos he published online pushed police to start investigating the suspected seller of raptors. — China Daily / Asia News Network