Wen Shihua, a 67-year-old farmer, established a protection zone in his village to shelter "little egrets," a graceful species of white heron.

But now villagers accuse him of having contributed to an environmental hazard - because the birds destroy crops and leave droppings in the streets.

"There were no egrets in our village and I made a decision to protect the birds in order to let them stay in the village," said Wen, who established the egret protection zone in 1992.