Chinese deny eating penguins in Antarctica

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 21

Chinese deny eating penguins in Antarctica

NZPA-AFP Peking China’s Antarctic Survey Committee has denied reports that members of a Chinese expedition maltreated wildlife and ate penguins during a scientific survey of Antarctica. “It is possible that some people in the expedition surrounded the birds to look at them, but the penguins were not mistreated and certainly not eaten," Gao Qingquari, vice-director of the committee’s general office, told Agence France-Presse. Mr Gao described as “absolutely baseless” a report by a West German professor at Heidelberg University that non-scientists among the 600-member Chinese expedition deliberately maltreated wildlife. The report by Professor Dietrich Barsch cited in the Hong Kong based “Far Eastern Economic Review” said expedition members “chased skuas (seabirds) with sticks, chased penguins over steep cliffs, painted the eggs of the great petrel, put broken glass and metal scraps in skua nests and so on.” The German report also

said the Chinese personnel fiddled with German monitoring equipment, put empty beer cans into rain measuring devices, and scoured the ice and moss with vehicle tracks. The “Review" article reported “a rumour that Chinese ate penguins appears to originate from a Soviet base and is contradicted by Chilean accounts.” Mr Gao said such behaviour was strictlty forbidden in a pamphlet given to each expedition member which set forth the terms of the Antarctica Treaty and explained that penguins and other wildlife there were protected species. Chinese officials have said that Peking will apply to join the Antarctica Treaty consultative parties, the “club” of 16 nations with major Antarctic research efforts that guides Antarctic policy and enforces the treaty. Peking-based diplomats representing club-member nations said the alleged incident is unlikely to delay China’s acceptance as a full member at the next meeting, in Brussels, in October.