ULAN BATOR, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian police have arrested a suspect for illegally hunting and killing Dalmatian pelicans, an endangered water bird species in the country, the country's Ecological Police Department said Tuesday.
The man was arrested over the weekend while attempting to sell the beaks of two Dalmatian pelicans in the Khan-Uul district of Mongolia's capital Ulan Bator, the police department said in a statement, adding that the case is currently under investigation.
Dalmatian pelican has been registered in the Mongolian Red Book of Endangered Animals.
Nomads of western Mongolia use the upper mandibles of pelican beaks to make horse sweat scrapers, believing that using the beak makes their horses stronger and grow faster. It is said to be one of the main reasons behind the dwindling population of the Dalmatian pelicans.
Under Mongolian law, a person convicted of killing endangered wild animals will be fined at least 10 million Mongolian tugriks (3,630 U.S. dollars) or punished by imprisonment of at least two years.
