Global Courant
A group of wildlife volunteers in China spent nearly a month documenting what appeared to be the unnatural deaths of more than 50 endangered raptors in Jiatang grassland in the country’s northwestern province of Qinghai.
Recruited by an artist activist known as Nut Brother, the volunteers found the carcasses of 55 birds, including 53 endangered raptors such as steppe eagles, saker falcons and eagle owls, mostly under power poles or near power wires.
They believed the birds died from electrocution, although their claim was disputed by authorities while the investigation was underway.
The group’s findings, published June 24 in a WeChat post, had sparked online discussions.
The author of the post, who calls Chang Le the bird counter, told The Paper that his team conducted their fieldwork from May 24 to June 21. Details of each carcass, including the species, where it was found and GPS coordinates were published with the post.
The author said that some birds had burn marks, while others had their tails chopped off.
The group believed the birds were electrocuted because of a controversial approach by the Qinghai branch of China’s state grid to scare birds.
