Forestry police rescued thousands of protected animals from markets and restaurants Wednesday morning in Guangzhou.

More than one thousand herons, egrets and 520 kilograms of protected snakes were discovered in a market on Zengtuo Road.

The police surprised poachers who couldn't hide the large amount of caged snakes.

The forestry department and the municipal forestry police jointly organized surprise raids to crack down on illegal sales, sending out 60 officials and 10 vehicles.

Guangzhou has banned snakes sales since 2003, after the outbreak of SARS.

Venders claimed to have commercial wildlife harvesting licenses, but police found their licenses had expired in 2003.

Guangzhou forestry police has solved 34 cases of illegal trading of protected species, arresting 68 traders and rescuing 239 national protected animals and 12788 provincial protected animals.

The animals would be sent to the provincial wildlife aid center and eventually released in the wild, police said.

(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies May 13, 2005)