BEIJING, March 8 -- A woman from south China has been arrested for trying to sell the pelt of an adult panda, a police officer said yesterday.

    Sun Shiqun, 60, was arrested on Feb. 8 while bringing the panda pelt from her hometown of Ya'an in Southwest China's Sichuan Province to meet a buyer in the nearby municipality of Chongqing, a police officer of the public security division of the Chongqing Forestry Bureau told the Associated Press.

    The officer, who would only give his surname Liu, said tests on the skin confirmed it was from a giant panda. He said he couldn't release additional details.

    A photo on the bureau's Website shows two police officers holding up the one-meter-long pelt, which appears to be a complete panda carcass with the organs, blood and bones removed. In another picture, Sun is shown in handcuffs standing by the panda with her eyes downcast.

    The Beijing News reported that Sun told investigators she paid 40,000 yuan (5,000 U.S. dollars) for the skin and planned to sell it for 300,000 yuan.

    Sun had been investigated before for trying to pass off the pelt of a red panda, a smaller animal, as a giant panda. Both are endangered species.

    It did not say if she was punished for the earlier offense.

    A search of her home also uncovered a pelt that appeared to be a giant panda but was found to be black and white dog fur sewn together to resemble a panda pelt, the paper said.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)