Global News - July 2007

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Chinese police save endangered crocs

Wed 25 July 2007 12:30 UK — Asia

Chinese police have successfully saved 270 crocodiles from being made into shoes or handbags, official news sources in the country report.

The Xinhua news agency revealed that authorities saved the animals after trailing a suspicious boat on a border river in the south-western region of Guangxi.

Saving 270 crocodiles represents a major success for wildlife authorities, who had managed to recover just 25 illegally captured reptiles in the first six months of the year.

When officials boarded the boat, they found bags full of the animals - which are on the region's endangered species list.

The Xinhua news agency reported: "Border police said that some underground leather factories bought crocodile skins to make shoes and bags."

Rules about the trade of products from endangered animals and plants were only enacted in China in September last year, despite the fact the country joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1980.

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