CHINA will auction its first wildlife hunting license and quota this Sunday, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The license is open to overseas hunters only, Oriental Morning Post reported today.

The State Forestry Administration, while not directly organizing the auction, has posed strict limitations on the species and quantity of the wildlife to be hunted and the hunting area, an official from the China Wildlife Conservation Association told the newspaper yesterday.

The auction will involve wild animals in Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces, the official said.

A tour guide will accompany the overseas hunter to help and meanwhile make sure that only “male animals rather than female ones, and older animals rather than young ones are hunted,” said the report.

“Hunters will have to pay for their quarries,” said the official.

The basic price for a wild yak will be US$40,000; for an ovis ammon US$10,000; a blue sheep will cost US$2,500; and a cervus elaphus will cost US$6,000, said the report.

“Carnivores and fowls are not included in the hunting,” the official said. “But wolves are an exception and will cost US$200 each.

“The net income from the auction will be used in wildlife conservation projects in the above five provinces,” said the official. “The auction will help the administration ascertain the market price of wildlife resources, and the legalization of hunting licenses will help curb illegal hunts,” the official said.

The hunting license on auction this time is open to overseas hunters only. “They are allowed to hunt with their own hunting rifles on approval from the country’s public security authority,” the official said.

Posted: 08|9|06 at 9:40 am. Filed under: Auction News.