CHONGQING police have unearthed evidence of panda hunting. A piece of panda fur was found which had been sold for 550,000 yuan (US,500), according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

　　The police stopped a taxi at Sangjiapo, on the Chengyu Highway. They found a piece of panda fur concealled in the back of the car and arrested four suspects.

　　After investigation, the panda who had been killed was only 18 months old with fur 80 centimetres long.

　　According to Yang Shicheng, a farmer who had killed the panda, he had come across three pandas while hunting with peasants in the mountains of Baoxing County. The two bigger ones ran away, but the small one remained in a tree.

　　He shot the little panda, which fell from the tree but didn't die immediately. Yang then used rope to strangle the panda to death.

　　He confessed that he had mainly been motivated by money.

　　Yang first sold the fur of the panda to Gao Hongyou, a farmer in a neighbouring country, for 2,000 yuan (US). Gao then sold it on to others. After several purchases, the fur was priced at 550,000 yuan by the time it was purchased in Chongqing.

　　"Killing or selling one or more pandas will be considered a serious criminal case," said Tang Jun, president of the Chongqing Rongchang County Forest Police Office. "This case is a clear example."