A rising number of migratory birds have been seen arriving for winter at East Dongting Lake in Yueyang, Hunan province, and environmental improvements at the lake are being credited for the increase, officials said.This winter, about 170,000 migratory birds are expected to arrive at East Dongting Lake, a major part of Dongting Lake, compared with 100,000 to 120,000 seen during winters in the years leading up to 2014, said Zhang Hong, deputy head of administration for East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve.There also has been an increase in the types of birds arriving at the 190,000 hectare reserve. Around 2002, some 200 varieties of birds wintered at the lake. The number increased to 345 last winter and had reached 348 as of Dec 10, he said.Birds choose places with a pleasant environment for winter. The continued increases suggest improvement of the local environment, said Zhang.Dongting Lake is the second-largest freshwater lake in China and one of the major water bodies along the Yangtze River, China's longest.The central government published a national plan for development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in September 2016 to boost concerted development in riverside regions and provide new growth drivers for the country's economy. Environmental protection and restoration were listed as paramount tasks in the plan.According to Zhang's administration, local police in Hunan have uncovered 31 cases related to illegal bird hunting and 16 people have received criminal punishment in the past five years. While 28 guns for hunting have been confiscated, more than 1,000 pieces of netting used in bird hunting have been found and removed in the Dongting Lake area.With financial support of about 100 million yuan ($15.4 million) in recent years from the central government, the reserve has built five protection stations, one publicity and education center and one breeding and veterinary treatment center.While sand excavation has been banned in the reserve, almost 8 kilometers of shoreline and 69 hectares of bottomland have been restored after local authorities removed 44 sand storage yards, according to the administration.In addition to government efforts, more residents have also participated in wetland protection. Last year, residents sent more than 200 injured birds to our reserve, Zhang said.Zhang Pingyang, a doctoral candidate at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is in East Dongting for the third year doing research on protection of wetlands and birds.Three years is a short period of time when talking about ecological improvement. But I have seen continually enhanced protection efforts and officers have been monitoring the wetland around the clock, she said. wristband maker24hr wristbandcheap custom wristbandswristbands online1 inch wide rubber bands
A customer holds a McDonald's ice cream in front of its Nanjing East Road store in Shanghai, July 27, 2017. [Photo/VCG] Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration raided four McDonald's restaurants in the city on Thursday and didn't find food safety problems, the Information Office of Shanghai Municipal Government said late Thursday. During the raids, the restaurants' purchase records, the employees' operating process and the sanitation of the kitchen were some of the steps inspected. The inspection came after a former employee of a restaurant of the US fast food behemoth in Louisiana posted pictures on social media of a greasy part of a machine that he claimed produced homemade ice cream in the restaurant, which triggered online discussion in China. Zhang Qi, restaurant manager of a McDonald's store on Minhang district's Hechuan Road, said the ice cream machine undergoes disinfection automatically for three hours before daybreak on a daily basis and is opened every 14 days for maintenance and cleaning. The Shanghai FDA also summoned senior officials from the Shanghai-based China branch of the industry giant for talks on Thursday and urged it to fulfill its non-delegable duty as a huge fast food chain and be 100 percent meticulous about food safety details. McDonald's China said in a statement on Thursday that the US branch had verified the machine part in the pictures was a tray that carries dripping lubricant inside the machine when it is running, and the part has no contact with food. This issue has nothing to do with our Chinese restaurants, read the statement issued on the company's official Sina Weibo. We earnestly request the public to trust us that we have rigorous standards for food safety, which is always our priority, it added. [email protected]
