On June 5, 2024, the Hongze Lake Basin Environmental Resources Court of the Xuyi County Court of Jiangsu Province held a public hearing and pronounced a verdict on a case of endangerment of precious and endangered wild animals involving the "giant panda among birds" Oriental White Stork, which was prosecuted by the Huai'an District People's Procuratorate of Huai'an City.
After trial, the court found that on the afternoon of August 12, 2023, defendants Yang, Liu, Li, and Xiong went out to "hunt game" and used air guns to hunt wild animals for consumption. The four defendants found four white "big birds" in the field near Zhangji Village, Suzui Town, Huai'an District, Huai'an City. The four of them knew that the "Big Bird" was a wild animal, but they still discussed together to hunt the "Big Bird". Subsequently, Xiong Moumou used an air gun to shoot at the "big bird", and the "big bird" flew away in fright, and the four people drove a vehicle to search, and Xiong Moumou continued to use the air gun to shoot many times, causing two of the "big birds" to lose their ability to move. When the four of them wanted to bag and take away the downed "big bird", they were discovered and stopped by the surrounding villagers. Li tried to deceive the villagers vaguely but failed, and was forced to put the "big bird" back in its original place under pressure, and the four of them fled the scene by car. The villagers called the police on the spot after discovering that the "big bird" was seriously injured, and the two injured white "big birds" both died soon after.
According to the identification center of Nanjing Police Academy, the two hunted white "big birds" were Oriental white storks and were listed in the "List of National Key Protected Wild Animals" (2021 edition) at the first level, with a value of 100,000 yuan per bird.
During the trial, Dr. Liu Changjing of Nanjing Police College appeared in court as a person with specialized knowledge to explain the ecological, scientific, social value of the Oriental White Stork, the necessity of wildlife protection, and explained the dangers of hunting rare and endangered wild animals.
After trial, the Hongze Lake Basin Environmental Resources Court held that wildlife resources belong to the state, and the state implements classified and hierarchical protection of wild animals, implements key protection for rare and endangered wild animals, and prohibits hunting and killing of wild animals under national key protection. In this case, the four defendants violated the national wildlife protection laws and regulations by endangering the precious and endangered wild animal Oriental White Stork, which constituted the crime of endangering rare and endangered wild animals. Accordingly, the court sentenced the defendants Yang, Liu, Li, and Xiong to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 5 years, 3 months to 4 years, and fines ranging from 50,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan for the crime of endangering precious and endangered wild animals.
The Hongze Lake wetland is home to a wide range of wildlife, especially for birds. As a rare bird, the Oriental White Stork is a national first-class key protected animal, with less than 10,000 birds in the world. In this case, the criminal acts of the defendants Liu, Xiong, Yang, and Li in hunting the Oriental White Stork destroyed the wildlife resources of the Hongze Lake Wetland and caused real harm to the integrity and stability of the wetland ecosystem. The Hongze Lake Basin Environmental Resources Court made a judgment in accordance with the law according to its specific circumstances, reflecting the people's court's determination to punish the harm to precious and endangered wild animals in accordance with the law, and the judicial responsibility of implementing the national biodiversity conservation strategy.
△ Oriental White Stork data map
More than 30 people, including deputies to provincial, municipal and county people's congresses, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, villagers' representatives, and members of local wildlife conservation associations, attended the trial.
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