Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – According to a news release from the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau on the 17th, Guangdong Province recently issued the 3rd General Forest Chief Order of 2025 – "Order on Comprehensively Strengthening Bird Protection Work." The order clarifies that the entire province must implement a three-year campaign to protect birds and crack down on illegal hunting and trafficking of birds, resolutely curbing the unhealthy trend of illegal hunting and trafficking, and fostering a new social ethos of loving and protecting birds.
The General Forest Chief Order points out that September to April of the following year is the key period for migratory birds. All localities in Guangdong must establish a working mechanism of "forest chiefs taking the lead, inter-departmental coordination, and local responsibility," strictly implementing regulatory responsibilities for key periods, key areas, and key links, and comprehensively promoting networked patrols.
The General Forest Chief Order emphasizes that forest chiefs at all levels in Guangdong must regard the cleanup of illegal bird-catching nets as the "first line of defense" for bird protection. They must comprehensively clean up prohibited hunting tools such as snares, traps, nets, electric fences, and electronic trapping devices, and severely crack down on behaviors that threaten bird survival, such as netting birds, shooting birds, poisoning birds, collecting bird eggs, and destroying bird nests. Meanwhile, Guangdong must coordinate bird protection with agricultural protection. For areas such as farmland, orchards, and fishponds where bird netting is necessary for agricultural protection, the principle of "bird protection first, scientific classification and implementation" should be upheld. The focus should be on promoting eco-friendly bird deterrents and protective nets, and implementing compensation policies for damage caused by wild animals.
The General Forest Chief's order clearly states that all regions in Guangdong must strengthen supervision of the wild source, artificial breeding, and market circulation, constructing a full-chain supervision system covering "hunting-trading-transportation-utilization." Forest chiefs at all levels should focus on key areas such as high-incidence areas of illegal hunting, trading markets, e-commerce platforms, and catering establishments to conduct regular joint law enforcement. Illegal hunting, trading, utilization, transportation, carrying, mailing, and consumption must be investigated and dealt with immediately and severely punished. For seized birds and their products, illegal leads must be thoroughly investigated and a high-pressure stance maintained.
It is reported that the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Department has launched a special campaign to protect birds. To date, 19 cities across the province have conducted 305 joint enforcement actions and 560 special enforcement operations, inspecting 5,680 locations, removing 3,262 bird-catching nets, confiscating 313 bird traps and other prohibited hunting tools, and rescuing and releasing a number of wild birds back into the wild. (End)
