BEIJING 

China has apprehended ten people for allegedly killing one of the last giant pandas in China's Yunnan Province and trading in its meat.

State news agency Xinhua reported Thursday that the adult female's fur, skull and leg bones had been seized by police, along with ten kilograms of panda meat. 

A forestry official said that of the ten suspects, three have been formally arrested for allegedly killing the panda in Zhaotong, northeast Yunnan. 

Xinhua reported Yunnan Forestry Administration as saying that the men shot the bear after a sheep belonging to a man named Wang was killed in December. 

It said that Wang and his brother had tracked the predator across a hillside with a hunting dog, shooting what he described as a "big animal."

The injured bear tried to escape by climbing a tree, but Wang shot it again. Only then did he realize it was a panda. 

It reported that Wang had later sold the bear's feet to a man named Li, and its meat to five others.

According to the news agency, pandas have not been seen in Yunnan for centuries

But after the killing, the forestry administration searched nearby areas and concluded that at least one panda had lived there.