The Ministry of Public Security announced plans to launch a new round of targeted crackdowns on crimes involving birds and other wildlife, focusing on illegal hunting with guns and drones, bird poisoning, and the online sale of nationally protected wildlife and their products.

The pledge was made by Li Chunjie, deputy director of the ministry's bureau of food and drug crime investigation and environmental crime investigation, at a news conference marking the 123rd International Bird Day, which was observed on Wednesday.

Li said illegal hunting and trading of birds and other wildlife still occurs in some areas, threatening biodiversity and ecological security while also posing public safety risks.

Between August and December, the ministry carried out a nationwide campaign targeting the illegal hunting and trade of nationally protected birds. Police opened 9,705 criminal cases during the campaign, including 3,562 involving birds.

The ministry also worked with nine other departments to issue guidelines on strengthening the ecological policing mechanism, aimed at building a long-term, multi-agency system led by public security authorities and supported by professional policing and big data tools.

In one major case, police in Dalian, Liaoning province, solved a series of cases involving rare and endangered wildlife, arresting 13 suspects and seizing more than 12,000 yellow-breasted buntings, a national first-class protected animal. The total case value exceeded 39 million yuan ($5.7 million).

Investigators allege that a suspect surnamed Zhang repeatedly hunted nationally protected wild birds and purchased others that had been illegally captured, reselling them to another suspect surnamed Jiang, who fattened the birds for sale.

Han Yanjun, a senior official with the same bureau, said police strengthened intelligence gathering and data-driven operations during the 2025 campaign to improve proactive detection and precision enforcement.

The ministry placed 38 major cases under special supervision, linking more than 350 related criminal cases. The effort led to the arrest of more than 950 suspects and the dismantling of 88 criminal gangs.

In response to frequent crimes involving the Chinese hwamei, a national second-class protected animal, the ministry directed local police to target professional gangs engaged in illegal hunting, purchase, transport and sale of the birds. That effort led to 865 criminal cases, Han said.

Given the cross-regional nature of wildlife crime, the ministry also organized coordinated crackdowns on 15 cases spanning multiple provincial-level regions, including an armed illegal hunting case in Hubei province. Police opened 501 criminal cases, arrested 858 suspects, dismantled 105 gangs and 108 crime sites, and seized 157 drones and 338 firearms.

The ministry also conducted a five-month-long regional operation involving the provinces of Anhui, Hubei, Guangdong, Shaanxi as well as the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions to combat crimes against migratory birds in the great bend area of the Yellow River.

Li said police will maintain an aggressive approach this year, combining online and offline investigations, strengthening internet monitoring and data analysis, and improving enforcement precision.

"We will focus on prominent crimes such as illegal hunting with firearms and drones, bird poisoning, the online sale of protected wildlife and their products, and schemes to launder the illegal origin of wild animals, striking hard and punishing offenders in accordance with the law," he said.

Authorities will also intensify efforts to track the sources and movement of tools used in such crimes, including firearms, drones and high-voltage electric nets, and carry out full-chain crackdowns on criminal networks operating both online and offline across the supply chain, he said.

Li added that the ministry will step up supervision of major cases, improve intelligence sharing and coordination among departments, strengthen links between administrative and criminal enforcement, and deepen international law enforcement cooperation against transnational wildlife crime.

yangzekun@chinadaily.com.cn