The nation's top legislative body will check the enforcement of the Wildlife Conservation Law next month.

It is the latest move underscoring public concern over the protection and management of wildlife, which spiralled following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Reports by some scientists in national media suggested the virus was initially transmitted to humans after people ate animals such as the masked palm civet, although this has never been proved categorically. Three groups of national legislators will visit Beijing and South China's Guangdong Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region early next month to check the enforcement of the law.

They will focus the inspection on poaching and illegal selling of wild animals or their products.

They will check the progress in cleaning up all kinds of markets where animals are on sale.

And they will probe supervision of the capture, training and breeding, sale, purchase, transportation, import-export and virus prevention and control of wildlife.

The inspection will also cover the living environment of endangered species of animals and the current mechanism on the protection of wild animals.

Findings of the inspection tour will contribute to the planned amendments to the 1988 Wildlife Conservation Law, which has been put on this year's legislative agenda by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislative body.

The congressional inspectors yesterday gathered in Beijing to listen to reports from governmental departments including the State Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture - two major watchdogs of wildlife conservation.

China is one of the countries with the most abundant wildlife resources in the world. It has 499 kinds of animals and more than 1,200 kinds of birds, accounting for 12 and 13 per cent of the global total respectively.

The 1988 Wildlife Conservation Law has played a key role in the protection of wild animals and the maintenance of ecological balance, said NPC sources.

But poaching and illegal selling of wild animals are still persistent troubles in the wildlife conservation of this country, said Ma Fu, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration.

National legislators expect to enhance law enforcement, increase public awareness of wildlife protection and solicit more opinions on the revision of current legislation through their inspection tour, according to NPC sources.

The inspection tour will be sponsored by the NPC Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and the NPC Environment and Resources Protection Committee.

(China Daily 06/21/2003 page1)