Reporter Chen Fan Photography Qian Jin
The warm breeze, the tender shoots spit green, and the migratory birds come together, which is a good time for spring and a high incidence of illegal crimes in the trade of wild birds. In February this year, the "List of Wild Animals under Key Protection in China" was greatly adjusted for the first time, which aroused social concern. As more wild animals are included in the scope of key protection, it is also another reminder that wild animals cannot be domesticated and bought and sold at will. In the past few days, the reporter has visited the city's flower, bird, fish and insect market, wildlife rescue agencies and relevant functional departments, and personally experienced the whole process of a coal, a key protected bird in Tianjin, from being rescued to being released.
Coal in cages
Sting Bird City Raid Inspection
On March 5th, the shock, another cold wave in early spring quietly arrived.
At 9:00 a.m., the weather was gloomy and the wind increased, and the reporter followed the law enforcement personnel of the Wildlife Protection Detachment of the Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Corps to a bird trading market in our city for a surprise inspection.
At about 9:40 a.m., law enforcement officers divided into two roads to carpet clearance of illegal occupation of wild birds around the market.
The reporter followed behind the law enforcement officers, just stepped out of the law enforcement car, and in front of him was a man wearing a hat, carrying a bird cage in his hand, hovering at the intersection, and inside the cage was a small black and white bird that was not the size of a fist. The law enforcement officer took two steps forward and grabbed the hand carrying the cage.
Illegal bird trade around the market
"Where did your bird come from?"
"Me, I raised myself."
"What bird does this bird know?"
"Isn't this bird called a back?"
This is a wild bird, the coal, and the law does not allow domestication, trade, you know?
Seeing that he was caught, the man tried to snatch the bird cage and leave, while defending himself, and after repeated questioning by law enforcement officers, he admitted that the bird had been bought earlier and intended to feed it at home. Eventually, the bird was seized by law enforcement officers and the man was taken away to investigate. After the end of the operation, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, law enforcement personnel conducted on-site popularization of the law on the scene of the personnel involved in the illegal trade of birds, requiring them to immediately make corrections and take shelter and rescue the birds in accordance with laws and regulations.
Birds caught in a net of caught birds
Bird dealer 1:100 business
Coal, commonly known as backs, was included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2017 and is also a wild animal in China's List of Terrestrial Wild Animals Protected by the State that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value (referred to as 'three haves'). The head of the Nobuchi detachment taught the reporter to identify it carefully.
I saw this little bird in the cage, only five or six centimeters long, and the black and white feathers on the neck were very eye-catching. Frightened, it clung to the railing, almost 90 degrees vertically suspended in mid-air from the cage wall, staring alertly at the outside of the cage.
Behind the hunt for a live wild bird by criminals, hundreds of birds can be killed by mistake. Due to the small size of the coal, in addition to the hunting link, bird dealers often stuff dozens or even hundreds of them in a bird cage during transportation, and countless people die in the middle, but as long as they can sell a few, it is profitable.
Driven by huge profits, there are often lawbreakers who take risks. In and around the city's various bird trading markets, the relevant departments have carried out many clean-up and rectification and legal publicity, but due to the high vigilance of suspected lawbreakers and the hidden trading process, illegal acts involving birds still occur from time to time.
"At present, when migratory birds transit through the northern region of China, wild animal swarm activities are active, and some criminals have also caught and sold wild birds to a high incidence period every year." The head of the Nobuchi detachment told reporters: "Recently, we are jointly carrying out 'Qingfeng Operation' with multiple departments, and conducting high-density inspections every week. Last month, the state adjusted the list of wildlife under key protection, and the next law enforcement inspection will be more stringent. ”
On February 1 this year, the adjusted Directory of Wild Animals under National Key Protection (hereinafter referred to as the "List") was officially released. This is the first major revision of the list since its promulgation and implementation in January 1989. This adjustment was accompanied by a nationwide crackdown. In accordance with the national deployment, from January 31, the Municipal Planning and Resources Bureau, the Municipal Agricultural and Rural Committee, the Municipal Law Commission, the Municipal Public Security Bureau and other eight departments launched a joint operation code-named "Qingfeng Action" to combat the destruction of wildlife resources throughout the city. By the end of February, the city's public security organs and administrative law enforcement departments had dispatched 1,629 law enforcement personnel, cracked 13 criminal cases of destroying wildlife resources, arrested 19 criminal suspects, handled 3 administrative cases of wild animals, and imposed administrative penalties on 3 people.
Members of the public read the law popularization leaflet
A growing "protective circle"
After the end of this law enforcement operation, law enforcement officers distributed to the merchants and masses present the law popularization leaflets that were re-printed according to the "List" to introduce the relevant laws and regulations and the knowledge of common illegal trade in birds in our city.
Professor Zhao Dapeng, an expert in wildlife conservation in Tianjin and a professor at the School of Life Sciences of Tianjin Normal University, led the research team to sort out the specific changes before and after the adjustment in detail after the release of the new "List".
A total of 988 species (categories) of wild animals are included in the new "List", of which 234 species and 1 category of wild animals are protected at the national level and 746 species and 7 categories of wild animals under national second-level protection. Of the above species, 686 are terrestrial wildlife, and 294 and 8 are aquatic wildlife. "The "List" has been greatly adjusted after more than thirty years, which can be said to have come out with thousands of calls." Zhao Dapeng said, "After the adjustment, on the basis of retaining all species in the original List, 517 species (classes) of wild animals have been added, which is more than the total number of species originally protected." ”
Among them, 43 species of wild animals such as blue-headed diving ducks are listed as national first-level protected wild animals, and 474 species (categories) such as ocelots are listed as national second-level protected wild animals; 65 kinds of wild animals such as vultures and curly-feathered pelicans have been upgraded from national second-level protected wild animals to national first-level wild animals; and 3 kinds of wild animals such as bear monkeys, northern goats and pythons have been adjusted from national first-level protected wild animals to national second-level wild animals.
"Specific to the changes in Tianjin, we have preliminarily sorted out and compared the two lists. The first round is to compare the small-scale list - "Tianjin Key Protected Wildlife Directory", from which to sort out the terrestrial wildlife species that have jumped from the 'city' name to the 'national' brand name, that is, the original municipal key protection, and now upgraded to the national key protection, a total of 32 species. Birds and mammals account for more than 90 percent. However, the Tianjin List of Wildlife under Key Protection only covers a portion of Tianjin's wildlife. Then, we conducted a second round of large-scale comparisons, that is, based on the data of the latest Tianjin Second Terrestrial Wildlife Resources Survey, and this time found that the changes were relatively large. It is mainly reflected in two aspects, one is that the number of new entrants has reached 34, and the other is the number of protection levels upgraded from the national level to the national level, a total of 10. This time there are three major types of species involved: reptiles, birds and mammals, or birds account for the largest proportion. "The preliminary combing results completed by the research team led by Zhao Dapeng will do a good job in the adjustment and revision of the "List of Wild Animals under Key Protection in Tianjin" in the later period.
Why is the new List adding so many species? Zhao Dapeng believes that the inclusion of a species in the scope of national key protection or the upgrading of the protection level means that the protection of the species will be significantly increased. After the upgrading of species protection, conservation projects and funding will increase, which will play an important role in the survival of their populations and the ecological restoration of their habitats.
It is illegal for these animals to be sold, bought and raised
In recent years, the media has continuously revealed that some people have been sentenced for selling birds protected by the state, which birds around the public are listed as national protected animals?
Illegal trade in wild animals is common in our city Thrush
Wren Brother (Nine House Bird)
Myna (Crested Myna)
Red-throated singing plover
Mongolian lark (lark)
Yellow Finch (Yellow Bird)
According to the relevant person in charge of the Forest and Wildlife Protection Department of the Municipal Planning and Resources Bureau, the scope and types of protected animals in the new "List" have increased significantly, especially the original "three haves" protected animals such as song lark, Mongolian lark, skylark, red-throated songbird (commonly known as: red neck, red dot chin), blue-throated songbird (commonly known as: blue neck, blue dot chin), thrush, wren, red-billed acacia bird, red-winged embroidered eye bird and other original "three haves" protected animals or Tianjin key protected wild animals have been upgraded to national second-level key protected wild animals. Yellow-breasted bunting, spoon-billed sandpiper, blue-headed diving duck, oriental white stork, blue-crowned noisy stork, Burmese tortoise and other endangered species in wild populations have been directly added or upgraded to national protected animals.
In life, the sparrows, magpies and other birds that can often be seen in the community look very ordinary, and some citizens who like birds may buy them home to raise, but this also has the risk of breaking the law.
Yellow-bellied (yellow dot)
Goldfinch (Goldfinch)
Bird's Nest (Tiger Skin)
Blue-throated singing plover
American iguana (green iguana)
Central African tortoise (Sulcata tortoise)
"Although birds such as sparrows and magpies are very common, they are all protected animals by the state. China's Wildlife Protection Law has made strict provisions, in addition to the national first- and second-level key protection of wild animals have a very strict legal protection basis, there are also 'three haves' animals, are not allowed to be raised, transported, bought and sold. The person in charge of the wild protection detachment explained, "After the adjustment of the "List", according to relevant laws and regulations, the amount of punishment for illegal domestication of wild birds under national second-level key protection in our city has also changed significantly." For example, the benchmark price of the penalty amount of Mongolian larks, thrushes, wrens and red-billed acacia birds is adjusted from 1,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, and a fine of 3 times is 15,000 yuan according to regulations; the benchmark price of the song lark, lark, red-throated songbird, blue-throated songbird and red-throated embroidered bird is adjusted from 300 yuan to 1500 yuan, and a fine of 3 times that is 4500 yuan should be imposed according to regulations. ”
The policy transition period is until June 30
In accordance with national regulations, the transition period between the new and old versions of the Directory is until June 30, 2021. During this period, how will the management and law enforcement of the city's wildlife authorities follow up?
The relevant person in charge of the Forestry and Wildlife Protection Department of the Municipal Planning and Resources Bureau said that in accordance with the requirements of the Announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Notice of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration on Effectively Doing a Good Job in the Adjustment and Implementation of the Directory of Wild Animals under National Key Protection and the Transitional Convergence Work, if artificial breeding and business activities have been legally carried out before the announcement is issued, and it is necessary to change or apply for relevant management certificates and administrative licensing decisions due to the adjustment of the Directory, an application should be submitted before June 30, 2021. Before an administrative licensing decision is made, relevant activities may continue to be carried out in accordance with law.
If there is feeding, turn it in as soon as possible
The person in charge of the wildlife protection detachment said that before June 30, 2021 is the policy transition period, before this date, if "the behavior of individuals illegally domesticating newly adjusted to protected wild animals of the second level or above" occurs, the relevant problems are handled in accordance with the original policies and regulations, that is, in accordance with article 28 of the Tianjin Municipal Wildlife Protection Regulations, "those who violate the provisions of these Regulations, do not obtain a domestication and breeding license or domesticate and breed wild animals under key protection in the city beyond the scope of the domestication and breeding license, they are ordered to make corrections within a time limit; those who refuse to make corrections, confiscate the illegal gains, A fine of up to 3,000 yuan may be imposed, and wild animals may be confiscated and the domestication and breeding license revoked" for disposal.
If the public has the behavior of raising wild birds, please contact the forestry departments of each district before June 30, 2021, voluntarily hand in the wild birds or directly call the 88908890 citizen hotline to consult the relevant matters.
Partial images were provided by the Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Integrated Administrative Law Enforcement Corps
Source: Tianjin Daily