· Law Eye reporter of Qinghai Rule of Law Daily, Qi Ying
Recently, the forest police department of the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Public Security Bureau cracked a case of endangering precious and endangered wild animals, successfully arrested 3 suspects, and seized 1 suspected snow leopard (national first-class key protected wild animal) carcass in the suspect's home.
The snow leopard is the top-level predator and flagship species in the alpine environment of Central and East Asia, and is known as the "king of snow-capped mountains" and the "barometer" of the health of alpine ecosystems. In the context of the province's vigorous monitoring and protection of snow leopard population resources, why are the three suspects so bold?
The forest police received a clue
In May this year, the police of the Forest Police Brigade of the Tongde County Public Security Bureau in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture received a clue that "someone in Xiuma Township, Tongde County, was selling the carcass of a suspected wild animal snow leopard." ”
Snow leopard carcass Photo courtesy of the Forest Police Detachment of the Hainan Prefecture Public Security Bureau
Snow leopard? The police of the Forest Police Brigade immediately became vigilant and quickly reported the content of the clues to the person in charge of the Forest Police Detachment of the Hainan Prefecture Public Security Bureau.
Li Wei, vice governor of the Hainan Prefecture People's Government and director of the Hainan Prefecture Public Security Bureau, immediately made careful arrangements and asked the Forest Police Detachment of the Hainan Prefecture Public Security Bureau and the Tongde County Public Security Bureau to cooperate closely to ensure that the investigation of the case proceeded in an orderly manner. Shandan, deputy head of the Tongde County People's Government and director of the county public security bureau, served as the head of the task force, and dispatched capable police forces to form a special case team to carry out investigation work.
Xiuma Township mentioned in the clue is located on the north bank of the Yellow River in the southwest of Tongde County, adjacent to Maqin County of Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest, and facing Xinghai County across the Yellow River in the west.
Xiuma Township Government is located in Douhou Suoji Town, with 8 administrative villages and 2 communities and 2,338 herdsmen in the jurisdiction, 106 kilometers away from the county seat, in the core area of Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve, with an average altitude of 3,850 meters, and is a pure animal husbandry township.
In order not to startle the snake, the task force launched an investigation around Xiuma Township......
Suspicious people are spotted
Through further confirmation, the police of the special case group narrowed down the scope of clues to Dawa Village, Xiuma Township, which belongs to a remote alpine area with 170 households, a vast and sparsely populated area, and each family faces each other across the mountain.
Identification of snow leopard carcasses
In the preliminary investigation, the police of the special case group have not found any suspected snow leopards or snow leopard carcasses circulating in the market, and the police judged that the suspect has the intention to sell but has not yet made a move, and the snow leopard or snow leopard carcass should still be hidden in the village.
In order to crack the case as soon as possible, the police of the special case group first launched an investigation from a place that had recently been unusual in the village, and found that more than a dozen households in the village had recently used far more electricity than usual, and then narrowed the scope of the investigation to these dozen households, and it was determined that five households had suspicious behaviors through investigation.
After the scope of the investigation was narrowed to 5 households, the police decided to disguise themselves and come to the door to verify them one by one, and after entering one of the households, they found that a man looked nervous when communicating with people, and he was vague in the face of simple conversations in daily life, and the police felt that the man in front of him was very suspicious, and immediately launched further questioning.
The man, who was already very worried, immediately expressed his willingness to confess after learning that it was the police investigating the case. The man told the police that he had indeed hidden a snow leopard carcass at home, and put it in his freezer, and admitted that he did not hunt it, but someone else temporarily put it in his freezer.
It turned out that there were other people who poached snow leopards. According to the man's confession, two of his relatives called him before to ask if he could still put things in his freezer, and he replied that he could, but the two did not tell him that he was a snow leopard carcass, and he did not find out until the things were brought over, but because of the situation, they were put in their own freezer.
Accidental capture of a snow leopard
According to the clues provided by the man, the police of the special case group arrested two other suspects on the same day, and took the three suspects to the Law Enforcement and Case Handling Center of the Tongde County Public Security Bureau for surprise interrogation overnight.
The other two suspects are father and son, according to their confessions, they did not want to hunt snow leopards from the beginning, they placed wire ring traps in their own pasture to hunt other wild animals, and inadvertently captured wild snow leopards, and after capturing the snow leopards, the two transferred the snow leopard carcasses to their son-in-law's house for storage, hoping to sell the snow leopard carcasses for a profit.
The police investigation of the special case team found that the suspect was inquiring about the price and buyers through various channels in the early stage, and wanted to sell it at a good price, but he has not been able to find a buyer.
The three criminal suspects confessed to their crimes, and the day after the criminal suspects arrived at the case, the police of the special case group led two of the criminal suspects to the first crime scene for identification. According to the appraisal opinion issued by the forensic appraisal center, the corpse was a dead snow leopard, which is a national first-class key protected wild animal, and the value of the snow leopard involved in the case was 500,000 yuan.
At present, the forest police detachment of the Hainan Prefecture Public Security Bureau has taken compulsory measures of criminal detention against two of the criminal suspects, and one criminal suspect has taken compulsory measures of release on bail pending trial, and the case is being further investigated.
Links to legal provisions
Article 341 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that anyone who illegally hunts or kills rare or endangered wild animals under national key protection, or illegally purchases, transports or sells rare or endangered wild animals under national key 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; where the circumstances are serious, a sentence of between 5 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given; where the circumstances are especially serious, a sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment and a concurrent fine or confiscation of property is to be given.
Whoever violates hunting laws and regulations by hunting in prohibited areas, during prohibited hunting periods, or by using prohibited tools or methods, destroying wildlife resources, and the circumstances are serious, is to be sentenced to up to 3 years imprisonment, short-term detention, controlled release, or a fine.
Where regulations on the protection and management of wildlife are violated by illegally hunting, purchasing, transporting, or selling terrestrial wildlife that naturally grows and breeds in the wild environment other than those provided for in the first paragraph for the purpose of consumption, and the circumstances are serious, punishment is to be given in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
According to article 6 of the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Destruction of Wildlife Resources" (Fa Shi [2022] No. 12), illegal hunting or killing of rare or endangered wildlife under key national protection, or illegal acquisition, transportation, or sale of rare or endangered wildlife under key national protection and the products thereof, with a value of between 20,000 and 200,000 yuan, shall be in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of article 341 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China to endanger the preciousand the crime of endangering wild animals shall be sentenced to up to 5 years imprisonment or short-term detention and shall also be fined; where the value is between 200,000 and 2,000,000 RMB, it shall be found to be 'serious circumstances' and a sentence of between 5 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine; where the value is 2,000,000 RMB or more, it shall be found to be "especially serious circumstances" and a sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment and a concurrent fine or confiscation of property.
Case Reviews
Crack down on illegal and criminal acts of destroying wildlife resources
Tea XVIII
Counting the causes and consequences of this case, although the suspect confessed that he did not have the subjective and intentional act of hunting the snow leopard, his placement of the wire ring trap did constitute an indisputable fact that a snow leopard died. After the incident, the suspects did not choose to report the death of the snow leopard to the local forest and grass or forest police department, but started the idea of selling the snow leopard carcass for profit, and finally all of them were arrested, and they will bear legal responsibility for their criminal acts.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the main living area of the snow leopard, and for a long time, Qinghai has carried out a series of protection measures to save this endangered species. In such a situation, the death of even a snow leopard from such a cause can be heartbreaking.
The forest police department has been able to perform its duties actively, overcome various difficulties to bring the criminal suspects to justice, and once again made clear its determination to severely crack down on the illegal and criminal acts of destroying wildlife resources, and this case will also serve as a wake-up call for everyone. Abundant wildlife resources are an important part of a good ecological environment and an indispensable part of human life, and everyone should take action to protect wildlife resources, and we must also resolutely say no to the destruction of wildlife resources.
Editor: Daniel Zhang