Local police have been cracking down on traders of the birds, which are protected at local provincial level. Some of the creatures collected were still chicks.

“They are very sick. We are providing them with our best care and medical treatment, but 40 percent of them probably won’t survive,” said Wang Fuyun, an official at the zoo.

Local police said the herons were found in markets waiting to be sold by illegal traders.

“They were packed in small cages and hadn’t eaten for days,” said one policeman.

“It will take a long time for these birds to recover. Hopefully, they will be better in a month or so. The chicks might need two months," he said.

All the herons will be put back in the wild after they are fully recovered.

Heron is a kind of migratory bird that lives in marshy areas near rivers, lakes and ponds. They are very common in China. Thousands of herons migrate every May to Hangzhou from the coastal regions of southern China. They stay until October.

They normally survive in the marshlands by eating small fish. But they have now become the target of heron hunters, who sell their feathers to adorn hats and clothes. Local police said they were still looking for more captured herons.

Scientists say that in recent years, herons have also had to face problems such as the loss of nesting sites, deterioration of water quality and the destruction of wetland habitat.

They say care must be taken to preserve shallow water habitats and feeding areas.

(China Daily 06/28/2001)