According to the Forest Police of Hunan Province, five rare-bird hunters who showed off their prey on the Internet went to the police and admitted their guilt on September 7.

The clue that broke the case came from the Internet. On September 3, Internet users revealed that near Wulong mountain of Hengyang City, some people had killed birds and posted photos on the Internet.

In the photos, dead birds are placed in order and several hunters wear smiles with prey in hand. The pictures aroused Internet users’ attention and soon after, the State Forestry Bureau publicized the matter on Sina Weibo, the Chinese counterpart of Twitter, to prompt confessions to the police.

On September 4, the forest police of Hunan Province and of Hengyang City assigned a special group of detectives to the case. They contacted the suspects’ relatives and friends to accelerate their investigation.

Liu Jianhua, deputy director of the police, said that the suspects confessed to the police on September 5 and 7. They bought high-pressure air rifles on the Internet and used them to kill a gallinule, a pheasant, three Chinese pond-herons and two night herons in Qidong County of China’s southern Hengyang City on September 3.

Now three suspects surnamed Shi, Long and Liu are under detention by the Hengyang City forest police and two others surnamed Jing and Zhou are out on bail.

Rare-bird hunters showed off their prey on the Internet. [Photo/Sina Weibo]