国内英语资讯:Feature: Bird guardians Spring Festival on the Yellow River wetlands_时事

国内英语资讯:Feature: Bird guardians Spring Festival on the Yellow River wetlands

During the day, Song and other members of the "Green Future" environmental protection association - a non-profit volunteer team founded and led by Song Keming - search along hundreds of miles along the riverbanks to remove poisoned bait placed by poachers and to rescue any surviving wildlife from threats such as deadly toxins, nets or gunshots or properly dispose of dead bodies.

At night, from 11 p.m. till dawn, the volunteers drive along the wetland that stretches 3,000 kilometers from Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan to Shandong provinces, to fend off poachers, who usually come with hunting rifles and hounds, with the help of local public security organs.

Song has been hit by poachers' vehicles, shot by their rifles and beaten with bricks and fists, but none of these had frightened him enough to cause him to step away from the battlefield.

Every autumn and winter, as migratory birds return from the northern Mongolian Plateau or the Siberian Arctic tundra, poaching happens more often, especially around the Spring Festival holidays. While criminals continue to break the law in an effort to make a fortune, Song and his team are actively trying to make it more and more impossible for these poachers to succeed.

Last year, the "Green Future" team caught four suspected poachers and helped the local police open three criminal cases. The volunteers scattered a dozen poachers from the reserve, including some well-equipped poaching gang members.