Farmer suspects eagles are taking his chickens

A farmer in the Lintong district of Xi'an suspects that some 200 of his chickens have been taken by eagles over the past year, Huashang Daily reported on Tuesday.

Wang Hui, the farmer who lives in the village of Zaoyuan, had more than 400 free-ranged chickens early last year on the mountain near his house but gradually found their numbers shrinking.

In the early morning of Jan 23, Wang heard noises from the chicken house and rushed to it. He saw a chicken dropping from the sky and found it had been injured. He suspects the missing chickens were taken by eagles, one of which he once spotted and estimated its wingspan was 1 meter wide.

The Xi'an wild animal protection station said they would check on the case and pay compensation to the farmer in accordance with regulations if the chickens were taken by eagles, which are protected by the law.