On April 28, 2024, the Criminal Trial Division of the Dingcheng District People's Court of Changde City formed a seven-member collegial panel composed of 3 judges and 4 people's assessors to publicly announce the first-instance verdict in the case of Xiao Moumou and 6 others endangering precious and endangered wild animals and illegally purchasing and selling terrestrial wild animals.
During 2021 and 2023, in order to obtain illegal benefits, defendant Xiao XX purchased owls, a national second-class key protected wild animal, and sold them to others for consumption at a higher price, selling a total of 83 owls;
Between August 2019 and March 2022, in order to obtain illegal benefits, defendant Liu Moumou purchased owls and sold them to others for consumption at a higher price, selling a total of 8 owls;
Between March 2019 and March 2022, defendant Huang XX purchased owls and sold them to others for consumption at a higher price in order to obtain illegal benefits, selling a total of 3 owls;
Between March 2021 and March 2023, defendant Xie X A purchased terrestrial wild animals such as snakes, bamboo rats, and civets and sold them to others for consumption at a higher price in order to obtain illegal benefits;
Between March 2021 and September 2022, defendant Xie X B purchased terrestrial wild animals such as snakes, pig badgers, wild ducks, and black water pheasants for illegal benefits and sold them to others for consumption at a higher price;
Defendant Zhong Moumou has suffered from migraine for a long time, and he believed that home remedies for eating owls can treat migraines, so he purchased 4 owls from defendant Xiao Moumou in March 2022.
After trial, the court held that the defendants Xiao XX, Liu XX, Huang XX, and Zhong XX violated the laws and regulations on the protection and management of wild animals by illegally purchasing and selling owls of rare and endangered wild animals under national key protection, and their actions constituted the crime of endangering precious and endangered wild animals, and that the circumstances of the defendant Xiao XX were serious; The sale of terrestrial wildlife is serious, and its conduct has constituted the crime of illegally acquiring or selling terrestrial wildlife. Based on the sentencing circumstances of each defendant, their attitude toward admitting guilt, and the circumstances of returning unlawful gains and paying compensation for ecological damages, each defendant was sentenced to a term ranging from five months of short-term detention to seven years imprisonment, and defendants Xiao XX, Liu XX, Huang XX, and Zhong XX were also fined, and defendants Zhong XX and Xie XX were given suspended sentences. The illegal gains of the relevant defendants are to be recovered, and the payment of compensation for ecological damage is to be ordered, and an apology is made to the public in the municipal news media of Changde City.
What the judge said:
According to the List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection issued by the State Forestry Administration and other departments, owls are commonly known as birds in the order Owls, which are divided into grass owls and owls, and the owls involved in the case are national second-class protected wild animals. Article 31 of the Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "It is forbidden to eat wild animals under national key protection, terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social value protected by the state, and other terrestrial wild animals. It is prohibited to hunt, trade, or transport wildlife provided for in the preceding paragraph that naturally grows and breeds in the wild for the purpose of consumption. It is prohibited to produce or trade in food made using wildlife and the products thereof provided for in the first paragraph of this article. It is prohibited to illegally purchase the wildlife provided for in the first paragraph of this article and the products thereof for consumption. ”
Precious and endangered wild animals are the precious natural resources of the state, and wild animal resources belong to the state, and illegal hunting or destruction by any unit or individual is prohibited. At present, the crime of destroying wildlife resources is still in a situation of high incidence and frequent occurrence, and the crime of destroying wildlife resources forms a chain of interests of "fishing/hunting-acquisition-trafficking", destroying biodiversity and ecological balance, and cracking down on such crimes in accordance with the law is conducive to strengthening the concept of protecting wild animals and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, eliminating the bad habit of indiscriminate consumption of wild animals, maintaining biological and ecological security, and strengthening the construction of ecological civilization.
Source: Fingertip News
Author: Ai Zedong
Editor: Yi Sainan