HOHHOT, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A court in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has ordered three men to pay around 4.4 million yuan (640,000 U.S. dollars) for ecological and property losses after poisoning 4,484 wild birds.

According to a verdict handed down by the Xilingol League Intermediate People's Court for a civil public interest lawsuit, Wang Guoqing, Hao Changqing and Wang Fengcai were fined 432,800 yuan for ecological losses.

The three were also fined 3.96 million yuan for the state property losses, the court said.

The three used 30 kg of poisoned bait to hunt and poison larks, a national second-class protected species, in December 2017, damaging the wildlife resources and harming the national and public interests, the court said. In mid-January and March of 2018, a total of 4,484 larks were found dead and police found they were responsible for the killing.

Apart from the criminal liability, they should also be subject to civil compensation liability, the court said.

Last year, the three were sentenced to jail terms ranging from two years to two and a half years for illegal hunting.