TOGETHER: Deng Fei visits students covered by his Free Lunch for Children program at Lannicun Primary School in Xinhuang County, Hunan Province, on September 3, 2012 (CFP)

With the bulk of its territory located in the North Temperate Zone, China sees millions of migratory birds flying southward over it in autumn and heading back north in spring. Of the eight major routes used by migratory birds worldwide, three cross over China.

However, due to illegal hunting, the number of birds migrating along the routes in China has dropped dramatically in recent years. According to figures released by China Central Television, in the 1970s, more than 1.6 million wild birds made up of more than 300 different species flew over China via the route from Siberia to Australia and New Zealand. In 2012 however, the number using the same route was less than 500,000.

"Hunting migratory birds is illegal in China and the government has taken severe measures to crack down on this behavior. However many people still violate the ban and sell captured birds to restaurants for profit," said Deng Fei, Dean of the Journalist Department of Hong Kong-based Phoenix Weekly and an activist promoting public welfare and environmental justice.

Deng said that more individuals and social organizations need to stand up alongside government efforts to stop illegal bird hunting.

Deng, 35, was born near Dongting Lake in central China's Hunan Province. "Every winter, thousands of migratory birds flew to the lake. They were my childhood friends. I hate the thought of people hunting and eating them," Deng said.

In October 2012, Deng saw pictures online of people in Hunan selling migratory birds at local markets. Some of the birds in the pictures were bleeding.

"I was upset by a picture of a seller carrying a swan and a mallard with a pole on his shoulder. These birds flew south across Hunan in the hope of surviving the winter, but they failed," Deng said.

Deng decided to help the birds. In late 2012, he joined hands with the China Social Assistance Foundation and established China's first public welfare program addressing the plight of migratory birds, calling it Let the Migratory Birds Fly. Since then, 50 city newspapers have joined Deng's call to protect migratory birds.

"Thanks to all these media outlets and our nationwide network, we can pass on information on how to protect migratory birds throughout China," Deng said.

Call to action

The program raises funds via the Internet and financially assists volunteers working in the winter habitats of migratory birds, such as Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake in central China's Jiangxi Province and locations around Bohai Bay in the country's north. Deng's group call on people not to eat migratory birds and spread related information, also alerting the police when they come across people hunting or netting birds.

Before launching Let the Migratory Birds Fly, Deng had already become a famous public welfare activist. Today, his name is connected to seven nationwide programs, five for helping children and two for protecting nature.

"By launching these programs, I have changed from a talker to a doer," Deng said. "That's what I want to be. To change something, we need people to do something, instead of simply criticizing."

Deng worked as an investigative journalist from 2001 to 2011, first for Hunan-based Women Today weekly and later at Phoenix Weekly. During that time, he wrote more than 160 investigative features.