Ten arrested after female giant panda killed and mutilated

Police in China have arrested ten people for allegedly killing a giant panda and trading her parts as meat.

China Central Television said police in the Yunnan province had recovered an adult female panda skin, 9.75kg of panda meat, two leg bones, two pieces of skull and a gall bladder from suspected poachers and sellers.

Photographs on Chinese social media site Weibo showed the "bloodied black-and-white pelt laid out on the ground", reports the BBC. Two alleged hunters and one person suspected of buying the panda meat were said to be among those arrested.

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Hunting pandas can lead to a minimum ten-year prison sentence in China. If the circumstances are deemed to be "grave", convicts can even face life imprisonment or execution.

In the late 1980s, more than 200 people were arrested and nearly 150 pelts were recovered after China launched a crackdown on panda poachers. At least nine people were sentenced to life in prison and 33 people received terms of ten years or more. One man was reportedly caught trying to sell the fur of a baby panda.

Although poaching is not common today, the animal's rarity means its parts can fetch high prices on the black market.

The giant panda remains one of the most endangered species in the world. According to a 2014 census from WWF, there were just 1,864 alive in the wild and all of these were in China.

"Hunting remains an ever-present threat," says WWF. "Poaching the animals for their fur has declined due to strict laws and greater public awareness of the panda's protected status. But hunters seeking other animals in panda habitats continue to kill pandas accidentally."

The most dangerous threat facing giant pandas is habitat destruction.