LANZHOU -- Four poachers have been given prison terms for poaching two white-lipped deer, an endangered species under China's highest level of national protection, in the Qilian Mountain National Park, Northwest China's Gansu province, a local court announced on Thursday.

Well-known for their white lips, the deer are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

The poachers trespassed in the national park on Aug 30, 2020, and killed two wild white-lipped deer with illegally possessed rifles. They skinned the animals and transported them to other cities in Gansu for sale. The four were then arrested by local police on their journey.

During the second trial, an intermediate forest court in Gansu affirmed the original judgment and sentenced the poachers to four to 11 years and six months in prison, as the criminals were found guilty of killing rare and endangered wildlife and illegally possessing firearms.

The deer mainly live at high altitudes from 3,500 to 5,000 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and are a rare species endemic to the plateau.