Silk stockings are knotted and contain small snakes, giant centipedes are packed into packed lunch boxes, a pile of plastic tubes containing ants are poured out of a biscuit box, and the inbound parcels declared as "camera tripods" are actually 28 species of live spiders......
In recent years, some pet lovers who pursue the so-called trendy and curious have imported "exotic pets" from abroad through illegal channels and channels. These "exotic pets" may be highly toxic or carry epidemics, causing unpredictable damage to the mainland's ecological environment.
How concealed can the smuggling of "exotic pets" be in disguise?
In February this year, at the Hekou Port in Yunnan, an inbound passenger with a bloated waist and abdomen and abnormal gait attracted the attention of the on-site customs officer. The inspection found that a large number of plastic finger tubes were wrapped around the passenger's waist with duct tape, and each finger tube was stored separately, a total of 163 live ants.
After being sent for inspection, the batch of ants was savage harvest ants. Savage harvesting ants have no natural distribution in the mainland, they are alien species, fierce by nature, collective combat, strong adaptability and reproductive ability, and will pose a potential threat to the ecological security and biological security of the continent after being introduced and dispersed.
Since 2023, customs in many places in mainland China have intercepted pests that have entered the country secretly.
- In October 2023, Ningbo Post Office Customs found 3,117 savage harvesting ants in plastic finger tubes in 3 abnormal mails.
- In August 2023, Shenzhen Huanggang Customs seized a case of hiding live "exotic pets" at Futian Port, including 9 "exotic pet" king snakes, 6 hognose snakes, 4 Peruvian giant centipedes, and 1 soft lizard. In September of the same year, Shenzhen Post Office Customs also intercepted 165 "exotic pet" spiders. Since 2023, Shenzhen Customs has intercepted 20,489 exotic pets such as Ambon sail lizard, Galapagos giant centipede, and halberd giant beetle in the delivery channel.
- A few days ago, when Shanghai Pudong Airport Customs supervised an inbound flight, a total of 49 live insects such as suspected ants and rat women were captured in the packaging bag of a passenger. In 2023, Shanghai Customs will intercept a total of 82,000 pests.
In order to protect the ecological security and biodiversity of the mainland, the General Administration of Customs has deployed a three-year special action to strictly prevent the invasion of alien species, and the Ministry of Public Security has launched the "Kunlun 2023" special action.
In August 2023, the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of Haikou Customs, together with the Coastal Police Corps of the Hainan Provincial Public Security Department, the Forest Public Security Bureau of the Hainan Provincial Public Security Department, and the anti-smuggling departments of the customs in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and other places, launched a centralized network collection operation to crack down on the smuggling of "exotic pets". The operation arrested 30 suspects in 8 places and 14 cities, and knocked down 14 illegal "exotic pet" breeding bases.
What are the dangers of invasive alien species?
Ecosystems are formed through long-term evolution, and the species in the system have formed a close relationship of interdependence and mutual restraint after a long period of competition, exclusion, adaptation and mutual benefit. The arrival of an alien species may eventually become an invader because there is no restriction in the new environment, changing or destroying the local ecological environment, seriously damaging biodiversity, and negatively impacting the economy, society and people's lives.
Yang Hua, deputy dean of the College of Bioscience and Technology at Hunan Agricultural University, said that invasive species have strong vitality and can easily lead to the extinction of other species around them. For example, after Mikania was discovered in Guangdong, other species on Lingding Island were basically nowhere to be found. If the hollow lotus seed grass grows in the farmland, the grain production will decrease. Once the snail enters the farmland to eat the seedlings, the yield will also be reduced.
Invasive alien species can also have an impact on human health, such as red fire ants biting people's hands or other parts, which may lead to ulcers and even death from allergies.
At present, the mainland has enabled digital information technology to monitor and warn of invasive species, and the first batch of more than 600 invasive species has been included.
擅自携带、寄递进境“异宠”
What are the penalties?
Some unauthorized carrying and mailing of "exotic pets" into the country may have touched the legal red line and need to bear the corresponding legal responsibility. The 11th Amendment to the Criminal Law, which came into effect in 2021, added the crime of "illegal introduction, release and discarding of invasive alien species".
In 2022, when Gongbei Customs officers inspected the vehicle driven by a man surnamed Yi, they found more than 2,000 live turtles from the cracks between the sunroof and the visor and the modified dark compartment of the armrest box. Yi claimed that he brought these "turtle seedlings" into the country for the purpose of breeding seedlings, but he could not issue a valid quarantine approval certificate.
According to the technical inspection of Gongbei Customs, 2,015 of the live turtles involved in the case are Brazilian red-eared turtles, which have been included in the third batch of the list of invasive alien species in China and listed as one of the 100 most dangerous invasive species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. On April 12 this year, the People's Procuratorate of Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, prosecuted Yi on suspicion of illegally introducing invasive alien species. This case is the first case of illegal introduction of invasive alien species prosecuted by the procuratorate in China.