Reprinted from: 998 Lecture Hall of Law
Today's pet owners are no longer satisfied with feeding kittens, puppies, and rabbits. Various animals including alpacas, ducks, and raccoons have also joined the ranks of pets. But there are some people who have become interested in some of the more weird animals, but do you dare to keep such "pets"?
Life in modern society is getting faster and faster, and many people will choose to keep pets as an embellishment of boring life. Most people raise kittens and puppies, but Liu Hang, 32 years old this year, likes to be different. He prefers some special reptile animals. In order to facilitate raising these reptile animals, Liu Hang also established a pet store called "Crawling World" in Foshan after graduating from university, hoping to make some money with this pet store.
One day, Huang Jun came to the store and planned to buy a pet. However, when Liu Hang's store was full of ordinary reptile animals such as turtles and lizards, Huang Jun was a little hesitant. So, Liu Hang quietly told Huang Jun that he could add his own WeChat and that there could be some "unique" pets when contacting online. The two added WeChat to each other, and Liu Hang often used his "Crawling World" WeChat to contact Huang Jun. As the number of chats increased, Huang Jun became interested in Liu Hang's business...
One day, Liu Hang invited Huang Jun to the store and said that a new batch of animals was recently added, which guaranteed that Huang Jun had never seen him. It turned out that Liu Hang found a black-throated giant lizard from Africa, which was huge, which made Huang Jun's eyes lit up. But Liu Hang was silent about his purchase channels. Huang Jun quickly expressed his thoughts and wanted to work with Liu Hang. So Liu Hang agreed that if Huang Jun also wanted to sell these pets, he could purchase goods directly from him. So, Huang Jun began to do his own business. In addition to purchasing various lizards from Liu Hang and selling them at an additional price, Huang Jun himself also purchased radiant tortoises, green tree lizards and other crawling pets through other channels for sale at an additional price.
After identification, most of the wild animals sold by 11 people including Liu Hang, Huang Jun are non-native to my country, and are protected animals in Appendix I and Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. In February 2020, the Chongzhou People's Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the Chongzhou Municipal People's Court for the crime of illegally purchasing precious and endangered wild animals, and submitted a sentencing recommendation to the court of a maximum imprisonment of 15 years and a minimum detention of 4 months in response to the different criminal facts and circumstances of each suspect.
[The characters in the article are all pseudonyms]
Interpretation Guest
Chongzhou People's Procuratorate
First Procuratorial Office Lei Xin
The pet that cannot be touched comes from 998 Lecture Hall of the Rule of Law 00:0004:32
Illegal purchase, transport, sell precious and endangered wild animals
should be held criminally responsible!
In this case, the suspects Liu Hang and others acquired and sold a variety of endangered wild animals for the purpose of making profits. Their behavior of course violated the provisions of the Criminal Law and should be held criminally responsible. There are also buyers of ordinary players who are purely for breeding purposes, but their behavior still constitutes the illegal acquisition of precious and endangered wild animals.
According to the provisions of the Supreme People's Court's "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Destruction of Wild Animal Resources", the "acquisition" in this crime includes purchasing for the purpose of profit and self-use. Therefore, even if an ordinary player purchases for the purpose of breeding, his behavior violates the provisions of the Criminal Law and should be held criminally responsible for the crime of illegally purchasing precious and endangered wild animals.
Article 341 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that those who illegally purchase, transport or sell precious and endangered wild animals and their products protected by the state shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall be fined; if the circumstances are serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years but not more than ten years, and shall be fined; if the circumstances are particularly serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than ten years, and shall be fined or property confiscated.
Is it OK to buy one?
also constitutes a crime!
Some suspects believe that buying a wild animal as a pet is no big deal.
In fact, according to the Criminal Law, even if the illegal purchase of a state-key protected wild animal or wild animal product can be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of less than 5 years; even if the illegal purchase is returned and not sold again, according to the judicial interpretation, the one used for self-use constitutes a crime; even if the illegal purchase is artificially bred, it constitutes a crime according to the judicial interpretation.
In recent years, some "exotic pets" enthusiasts who pursue fashion and curiosity have triggered cases of smuggling overseas animals. There are common cases of ecological disasters caused by alien species. Some species involved in this case are very suitable for the climate environment of tropical and subtropical regions in my country. There are no natural enemies in the wild. Among them, green iguanas have been out of control in Taiwan, my country, and have flooded into disasters, causing ecological harm.
In fact, at this stage of economic and social development, humans have a stable source of protein, and there are many substitutes for animal products, and there is no urgent need to eat or use a specific wild animal. On the contrary, because the market has demand and people have hobbies, illegal trading is prevalent. The known and unknown viruses in wild animals directly endanger human health, life safety, economic development and social stability. The whole society should take action and while fighting against such illegal and criminal activities, we should ban buying, selling, eating, and playing, and effectively protect the environment on which we rely on.
