More than 30 oriental white storks were poisoned near the Dagang Reservoir in Tianjin in North China on Nov 11, The Beijing News reported.
"We were on our routine morning patrol around the reservoir, when an amateur photographer told us that a white stork he took photos of seemed to be poisoned,” said Zhao Liang, a volunteer who takes care of and protects the white storks.
Zhao and his colleagues went to the stork pointed out by the photographer and found more birds that had also been poisoned nearby.
"We rushed into the water to save the birds after calling the police. The police arrived soon after and joined the rescue.” Zhao said.
By 5:00 p.m. on Nov 11, three white storks were confirmed dead and 15 were saved and sent to a rescue station nearby.
"The number of deaths may increase.” Zhao said, because of the 15 rescued, two were still in danger.