DI PAPER SEH REPTILE EATING!!

Chinese expats caught eating endangered Zimbabwe tortoises
Four reptile-eating Chinese nationals face deportation from Zimbabwe this week for keeping an endangered species of tortoise for their dinner table.

The rare Bell’s Hinged tortoise Photo: ALAMY
By Peter Simpson, Beijing2:49PM GMT 19 Feb 2012
The expat workers Zhang Hongyuan, Chen Caijan, Lin Guibin and Shi Jiahua obtained rare Bell’s Hinged tortoises “for personal consumption”.
When police and animal welfare officials raided the Chinese workers’ homes near Bikita, in southeastern Zimbabwe, they found the meat and skeletal remains from 40 of the at risk reptiles.
They had been dropped into boiling water while still alive in order to separate the meat from the shell, villagers living next to the Chinese workers claimed in witness statements.
A further 13 tortoises were discovered in steel drums without water or food.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species lists the Bell’s Hinged tortoise as endangered – and local Zimbabwean wildlife officials said the number of the animals has dwindled in recent years.
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The Zimbabwe National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to animals, ZNSPCA, said the four Chinese nationals admitted to breaking the country’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
They also admitted to living and working in Zimbabwe without the correct immigration documents, said the ZNSPCA’s Ed Lance.
The tortoises, considered a delicacy in China, are among many rare animals that fetch high prices among diners.
It is estimated more than 5,000 Chinese are working and in living in Zimbabwe. The two countries have signed scores of trade agreements, most recently a lucrative diamond mining contract.
But relations between locals and the Chinese are brittle. Last year, China had to send a special delegation to the country to encourage better relations between Chinese expats and locals after reports of inhumane treatment and underpayment by the “new colonial master”.