Seven tourists fined over Tibetan antelope car chase

Seven people have been fined 105,000 yuan ($15,830) for chasing Tibetan antelope in a nature reserve in the Tibet autonomous region, the local forestry department said on Sunday. 

At 5:20 pm on Wednesday, a group of seven tourists in two SUVs drove off a public road and into a reserve in Nagchu in northern Tibet, said Deng Zhonghua, an officer from Lhasa's public security bureau. 

They saw a herd of antelope while driving along the road in Shenza county and drove after the animals for about a minute to take pictures, Deng said. 

He said a netizen posted images of two white vehicles pursuing running herds in a reserve on Sina Weibo and reported it to the police at 2 pm on Friday. 

The police found the group at 5 pm on Friday, and handed the case over to the local forestry department. 

Each person was fined 10,000 yuan for breaking the Wild Animal Conservation Law and 5,000 yuan for breaking nature reserve regulations. 

The forestry authority said no injured or dead antelope had been found during checks in the area on Friday or Saturday.

Zhang Yi contributed to this story.