(CN) Restaurateur Jailed for Serving Up Rare Animals

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http://www.anc.org/wildlife/wildlife_article.cfm?identifier=2002_0606_restau

rateur

 

by The Associated Press

 

Posted on June 6, 2002

 

A Beijing restaurant owner was sentenced on Wednesday to five-and-a-half

years in jail and fined $1,050 for buying rare wild animals to cater to the

exotic tastes of his customers, state media reported.

 

Last November 13, Tan Hualing bought four cobras, two pangolins and two

lizards which were on a national list of protected species to add to the

menu of his eatery, the Xinhua news agency said.

 

The man who supplied the wildlife for the pot, Chen Kejin, was handed a

five-year sentence by the People's Court of Chaoyang district in eastern

Beijing, it said.

 

Tan's restaurant specialized in dishes from the southern province of

Guangdong, whose inhabitants are famed for their appetite for a wide variety

of wildlife.

 

The court said the pair had violated wild animal protection laws.