A young chef in Huludao city, northeast China's Liaoning province, was conferred an honorary title of "green chef" Tuesday by China Wildlife Conservation Association for his persistence in rejecting cooking wildlife.

During the past eight years, Zhang Xingguo, 32, who has worked as a chef for 13 years, was fired 12 times by owners of restaurants and hotels, for refusing to cook rare wildlife such as hedgehogs and pangolins.

In 2003, he initiated his own plan to visit nearly all local restaurants and petition chefs face-to-face to reject cooking wildlife.

Li Yuming, deputy secretary-general of the association said that Zhang has set a good example for other chefs to follow to do their part in wildlife protection, as well as the public to increase awareness in this regard.

Source: Xinhua