Recently, the "pet blind box" has aroused public discussion about live express delivery and the lives of cats and dogs. In fact, in addition to cats and dogs, birds are also common pets. The surging news reporter found that some people openly published information on Taobao, Baidu Tieba and Idle Fish platforms to carry out illegal trade in birds protected by the state.
There are a number of shops on Taobao that sell nationally protected animals. A Taobao shop called "Little Bird Farm" sells "Wren Brother Baby Bird Myna Baby Talk Thrush Live Bird Show Eye Bird Lark Magpie Coral Parrot Bird", etc., and its product cover picture reads "Any bird has it, contact customer service". Customer service said that only Alipay transactions are supported, and birds need to add WeChat.
In the WeChat circle of friends of the store's customer service, there are pictures and price introductions of various birds, including the national second-level protected animals Wren, Thrush, Lark, etc., and the "three haves" protected animals (that is, terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social value) myna, show eyes, magpies, etc.
Customer service said that there are two prices for thrushes, and the ordinary thrush for 4-6 months is "just caught back, Bao Gong." The price is 300 yuan a free shipping", boutique thrush is "cooked, package public bag called." The price is 450 yuan a free shipping.".
A shop called "Turtle into Turtle" sells "Little Golden Sun Monk Heart Pet Pineapple Yellow Edge Golden Kai Blue Green Monk Honey Ash Machine Live Large Parrot", "Yellow White Blue Green Monk King Kong Golden Sun Honey Sucking Golden Sun Honey Sucking Little Sun Wrench Grey Machine Parrot Introduction Certificate Bird Egg" and so on.
After adding customer service, the surging news reporter saw that there were videos of various parrots in its circle of friends, and attached words such as "needed contact", "package", "stock", "immediate delivery" and so on. Customer service said they have a legal breeding certificate, gray parrot 8900 yuan a free shipping.
These parrots are all national key protected animals, of which grey parrots belong to the national first-level protected animals.
In fact, except for the peach-faced peony parrot, the tiger parrot, the cockatoo (i.e., the cockatoo) and the red-collared green parrot, the other parrots are listed in Appendix I and Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which are equivalent to national first-level protected animals and national second-level protected animals in China, respectively. The red-collared green parrot is a native animal in China and belongs to the national second-level protected animal. That is to say, the only individuals legally breed are peach-faced peony parrots, tiger-skinned parrots, and cocktail parrots.
In addition, there are also illegal transaction information on the second-hand trading platform Idle Fish. In the comments section of parrot-related supplies, information about the sale is directly and implicitly posted, such as the use of "gray machine" to refer to gray parrots.
Compared with the obscurity of the online trading platform selling state-protected animals, Baidu Tieba is much more blatant. For example, "Wren Brother Bar", "Thrush Bar", "Monk Parrot Bar", "Grey Parrot Bar" and so on have a lot of information about catching, digging bird nests, selling, and acquiring.
Screenshot of "Thrush Bar".
"In addition to these platforms, QQ groups and WeChat groups are now selling birds more seriously, and it is difficult to find." A bird conservationist engaged in anti-poaching told the surging news reporter, "Reporting is also a closure of the group, which is not of much use." There is no substantial damage to the bird dealer, because those 'bird friends', that is, his resources are still there, and he can build another group at any time. ”
Regarding the illegal trade in birds protected by the state on the Internet, Wang Jing, spokesperson of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, told the surging news reporter that there are three main reasons: First, profit-driven. A large part of the birds sold come from wild poaching, which is a costless and purely profitable business for sellers. Second, there is insufficient regulation. On the one hand, the platform is not effectively regulated, and on the other hand, the hidden nature of transactions, such as private contacts, videos and secret codes. Third, the cost of breaking the law is too low. The illegal cost of poaching, the cost of liability for platform supervision negligence, and the cost of joint liability for consumers' illegal purchases are very low. This also makes effective regulation more difficult.
Whether it is wild animals under national key protection or "terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social values", they are protected by China's laws.
The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that "crimes of endangering rare and endangered wild animals": Whoever illegally hunts or kills rare or endangered wild animals under key national protection, or illegally acquires, transports or sells rare or endangered wild animals under key national protection and their products, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also be fined;
"Illegal hunting crime": Whoever, in violation of hunting laws and regulations, hunts in a forbidden hunting area, during a hunting ban period, or uses prohibited tools or methods to destroy wildlife resources, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or a fine.
Under the influence of the epidemic last year, the protection of wild animals by the state has been strengthened. In February 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decided on completely banning illegal wildlife trade, eliminating the bad habit of indiscriminately eating wild animals, and effectively protecting the people's life, health and safety, Article 1: Where the Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws prohibit the hunting, trading, transportation, or consumption of wild animals, it must be strictly prohibited. Violations of the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be subject to aggravated penalties on the basis of the provisions of the current legal provisions.
Against this illegal backdrop, the online parrot market is chaotic. Some buyers said that they received parrots that did not meet expectations after paying, and even were blocked by sellers. For example, when Yang Wu (pseudonym) bought a small sun parrot on WeChat, the seller said that he had a good hair "half-haired" parrot (that is, a juvenile parrot that had not yet grown good feathers), and the result was a "full-haired" parrot.
Some hope that these pets can be legalized, believing that this objectively promotes artificial breeding, thereby increasing their population and playing a protective role.
Anti-poaching bird conservationists generally disagree with this view. He believes that almost all of China's native birds such as thrush are caught in the wild and lack artificial breeding techniques, while parrots need to be discussed specifically.
"The Fei's peony parrot is basically from captivity, and there are many bird markets in various places, but it is still counted as a national key protected animal, which is the relevant list to be improved." Although the African grey parrot is farmed in captivity, illegal poaching still exists in large quantities in the wild. Legalization may also be difficult to meet market demand, and individuals arrested in the wild may be mixed in. This also raises the question of how to identify tracked captive parrots. ”
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species shows that the African grey parrot is at endangered level and its population is declining. Threats include local agriculture, forestry and hunting, with hunting being the main threat. Grey parrots have a long lifespan and are good at imitating various sounds, so they are hunted and sold all over the world to become some people's pets.
In addition to captive farming techniques and related regulatory issues, the role of wild animals in the wild itself also needs to be considered. Wang Jing said that wild animals play an important role in maintaining ecological balance in the wild.
"From the perspective of animal protection, for some endangered species, when relying solely on their wild populations is not enough to maintain the survival of their species, ex situ conservation can be adopted." Captivity has never been the first choice to restore wildlife populations, as captive animals are difficult to return to the wild. As a result, some species have achieved mature captive breeding, but their wild populations continue to decline and become endangered. Wang Jing said.
"At present, we are still in a period of legal popularization and publicity." Anti-poaching bird conservationists said.
However, at present, Baidu searches for the names of nationally protected animals, and the page advertising link titles include "Sell", "How much is a piece", "Price", etc., and there are some self-media "raising" bird introductions, which will cause false guidance to users.
Some platform supervision is also not in place, the aforementioned anti-poaching bird protection person said that it is recommended that the relevant departments further increase the supervision of such platform information.
"The market of the future should be more standardized. The pet market is a manifestation of the relationship between humans and animals, and the factors of human beings' closeness to nature and love of animals are also reflected in it. Wang Jing said. I think it is very important and urgent to clarify the platform that provides these transactions and the legal liability of logistics, on the other hand, to change the situation of 'low cost of illegality and high illegal profit', so that the law can have a deterrent effect on illegal hunting, trading, purchase of non-compliant sources and protected animals by the state. Source: The Paper