The State Forestry Administration is investigating the legality of a hunting resort established jointly by a city in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and the United Arab Emirates to find out whether the land the resort uses is part of a nature reserve and therefore illegal, a forestry official said on Thursday.

Yan Xun, chief engineer at the administration's Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management, said at a news conference that the authorities are looking into whether the hunting resort is partly located in a 26,700-hectare national nature reserve close to Guyuan city. The reserve was established in 1988.

The resort would be illegal if it is found to be using part of the national reserve because the "building up of hunting resorts within a national nature reserve is strictly forbidden", Yan said at the conference.

The construction of the 817-hectare resort started in June and was criticized by animal rights activists because they saw it as threatening local wildlife.

The resort boasts a range of leisure activities, including hunting. It was among efforts made by the Ningxia government to boost cooperation with the UAE in areas including trade and tourism.

Similar resorts in the UAE offer people the chance to hunt gazelle and deer. It is not known which animals are hunted at the resort in Ningxia.

(China Daily 04/29/2016 page5)