Henan Business Daily reporter Han Zhonglin intern Yang Xueqing Tu Guanghui / Wen Interviewee provided a picture
The green water and green mountains are the golden mountains and silver mountains. Wildlife is an important link in maintaining ecological balance. In reality, however, some people harm them for various purposes.
A few days ago, a case cracked by the police in Nanyang, Henan Province, attracted attention. In this case, two men were criminally detained for illegally hunting 490 wild geckos.
Geckos are one of the more common animals, what laws does hunting such wild animals violate in our country? The Henan Business Daily reporter made an understanding.
490 geckos were illegally hunted, and two men have been criminally detained on suspicion of illegal hunting
Recently, two men illegally hunting 490 geckos were detained by the police in Wolong District, Nanyang, which attracted attention on the Internet. On July 19, a reporter from Henan Business Daily contacted the local police to understand the situation.
Jia Yaohe, a police officer at the Wolong District Public Security Branch of the Nanyang Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that in the early morning of July 13, the police received an alarm that villagers had found a suspicious vehicle.
In the process of inspecting the vehicle, the police found a large number of geckos in the trunk and rear seat of the car, as well as lamps and self-made capture tools for catching geckos. During the investigation of the vicinity of the vehicle, the police found a plastic bag containing a gecko from a grassy area.
The two of them confessed to the joint illegal hunting of geckos. We counted at the police station and found that as many as 490 geckos were illegally hunted. Jia Yaohe said, "After counting the fixed evidence, we released the gecko with intact vital signs." ”
The police of the Wolong District Public Security Branch of the Nanyang Municipal Public Security Bureau said that in order to protect wildlife resources, according to the distribution of wildlife resources in various parts of the province, each city has stipulated its own hunting area. At present, Wolong District of Nanyang City is a year-round hunting ban period in the whole district.
In addition to geckos, the common wild sparrows, hedgehogs, etc. are all protected animals of the national "three haves" and are protected by the Wildlife Law of the People's Republic of China. Illegal hunting of these animals is illegal and will be subject to legal sanctions depending on the level and number of protections of the subjects of the hunt.
At present, the case has been handed over to the Forest Police Brigade of the Nanyang Municipal Public Security Bureau. It is reported that the two suspects involved in the case have been criminally detained, and the case is being further handled.
Not every gecko has medicinal properties
It is understood that the gecko genus reptiles have the family Lepidoptera, which are mainly distributed in Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and other places. It is a nocturnal animal, hiding in a dark tree hole or wall crack during the day, and coming out at night to forage for food, and its food is flies, mosquitoes, ants, moths, etc.
The suspect in the case claimed that the gecko had medicinal value and was used for medical treatment after capture. So, can geckos really cure diseases?
"Not every gecko has medicinal properties." Chen Xiaohong, a professor at the College of Life Sciences of Henan Normal University, told the Henan Business Daily reporter that the medicinal value of different geckos is not the same, and the webbed gecko has medicinal value.
According to Chen Xiaohong, the most widely distributed gecko in Henan Province is the webbed gecko, which can be seen at home, on walls, in courtyards, and in fields.
"Geckos are an important link in the entire ecosystem." Chen Xiaohong said that it mainly eats some insects, most of which are harmful to human life.
In addition, Chen Xiaohong told the Henan Business Daily reporter that the geckos seen at home are also wild geckos, and geckos never take the initiative to attack people.
Regarding the claim that the saliva of geckos on the Internet is poisonous to humans, Chen Xiaohong said, "This is a rumor and there is no scientific basis. ”
Medicinal geckos can be farmed in captivity without the need to catch wild geckos
The Henan Business Daily reporter learned that after the medicinal value of geckos attracted attention, some farmers began to make a living from it. At present, the artificially bred geckos are mainly webbed geckos, and the breeding methods are mainly dispersed and shed.
"Free-range geckos are mainly kept in chicken pens and pig pens with these animals, and they still feed on mosquitoes, flies, moths and other insects, which has almost no cost." A farmer with 10 years of experience in geckos farming told the Henan Business Daily reporter, "Because the shed gecko needs to be fed feed, the cost per kilogram is about a dozen yuan." ”
According to the farmer, according to the quality, the ex-factory price of geckos per kilogram is more than 100 yuan. "In recent years, the market has gradually become better, this year's words are about 150 yuan per kilogram, and each kilogram of good quality can be sold to 178."
"Geckos are generally sold to middlemen or Chinese medicine stores." The farmer said, "The buyers come from all over the country, and the market prospects are still good." ”
China's key protected wild animals have reached 980 species
The Henan Business Daily reporter learned that the gecko is the country's three animals (with important ecological, scientific and social values) and is protected by law. So what animals are legally protected in our country?
Shang Guangzhu, the relevant person in charge of the Wildlife Protection and Management Department of the Zhengzhou Forestry Bureau, told the Henan Business Daily reporter that in order to protect wild animals, China has set up national first-level protected wild animals and national second-level protected wild animals. Each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government is set up with a provincial-level key protected wildlife. In addition, China has also published a list of three animals.
According to information on the Chinese government website, in February this year, China adjusted the list of wild animals under key protection. A total of 980 species and 8 categories of wild animals are included in the new list. These include 234 species and 1 categories of wildlife protected at the national level and 746 species and 7 categories of wild animals under national second-level protection.
"There are more than 300 species of wild animals around Zhengzhou, most of which are birds." Shang Guangzhu told Henan Business Daily that in addition to zoos, the national first- and second-level protected wild animals that can be seen in the Zhengzhou area are mainly birds, including storks, eagles, eagles and so on. In addition, macaques, wild boars and so on occasionally appear in some of the surrounding mountains. The swallows, sparrows, magpies, etc., which are common to everyone, are all three animals.
"Wildlife protection does not distinguish between high and low." Shang Guangzhu believes that no matter what level of wild animals, people should do their best to protect them.
Shang Guangzhu said that although the protection should be treated equally, the responsibility for causing harm to different levels of wild animals is not the same.
"No one can keep protected wild animals in captivity without permission." Shang Guangzhu said that captive wild animals need to go through the corresponding procedures, captive wild animals under national key protection, need to be approved by the State Council or provincial-level competent departments, and most of the three protected animals in captivity need to be approved by the county-level forestry department. "Generally, it is used for exhibitions or scientific research by institutions such as zoos, and it is usually not supported for individual pets."
What kind of legal responsibilities need to be borne for hunting wild animals
The green water and green mountains are the golden mountains and silver mountains. Wildlife is an important player in maintaining the ecological balance. Therefore, our country protects them at the legal level.
1. What do you think of the police detention of two men hunting more than 490 geckos?
Fu Jian, a lawyer at Henan Yulong Law Firm, believes that the two criminal suspects illegally hunted more than 490 geckos in the game reserve, a large number, and according to the relevant provisions of China's Wildlife Protection Law and the Criminal Law, China prohibits the illegal hunting of wild animals.
Qin Ming, a senior partner at Beijing Jingshi (Zhengzhou) Law Firm, said that the Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that geckos are "terrestrial wild animals that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value protected by the state", also known as "three protected animals", and it is illegal to capture "three protected animals" without permission.
2. Is there criminal liability for catching and injuring animals protected by the State?
Fu Jian said that according to China's criminal law, the illegal hunting of rare and endangered wild animals under national key protection requires criminal responsibility; hunting in no-game areas, during the no-hunting period or using tools and methods prohibited by law also bears criminal responsibility.
In addition, illegal hunting, purchasing, transporting and selling rare and endangered terrestrial wild animals under national key protection for the purpose of consumption will also bear criminal liability.
China's Wildlife Protection Law stipulates that the hunting and killing of wildlife under national key protection is prohibited. If it is necessary to hunt and kill animals under national first-level protection due to scientific research or disease monitoring at the source of epidemics, it is necessary to apply to the competent department for wildlife protection under the State Council; to hunt and kill national second-level protected animals, it is necessary to apply to the provincial wildlife protection department; and hunting wild animals that are not under key national protection shall obtain a hunting license issued by the wildlife protection department of the local people's government at the county level or above.
3. How is the punishment for hunting and harming wild protected animals generally?
Fu Jian said that in general, the level of protection of wild animals hunted by suspects, the number of hunts, the means and tools used, and the criminal sentencing provided for in the criminal law will be different.
Hunting of ordinary protected wild animals is generally punishable by fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention, public surveillance or fines; hunting of rare and endangered wild animals is generally punishable by up to five years, in serious cases it is punishable by five to ten years of fixed-term imprisonment, and if the circumstances are particularly serious, it is punishable by fixed-term imprisonment of not more than ten years, and it is also fined or confiscated of property.
4. Will the degree of sentencing be affected by hunting and harming the number of protected animals in the wild?
Qin Ming said that article 6 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases Involving the Destruction of Wildlife Resources clearly stipulates that illegal hunting of more than 20 wild animals is an illegal hunting with "serious circumstances". In judicial practice, not only the number of animals will affect the conviction and sentencing, but also the objective harm of the behavior, as well as the size of the subjective malignancy of the perpetrator and other factors for comprehensive judgment. In this case, the motives, legal awareness, and attitude of repentance of the two people will all become discretionary sentencing circumstances, but how to make the judgment requires the court to clarify the relevant facts of the case in accordance with the law.
5. When life and health are threatened, can wild animals be countered, and in this case, is it illegal to harm animals protected by the state?
Qin Ming said that when people's life and health are threatened and they are being harmed by wild protected animals, there is indeed an emergency to avoid danger or no possibility of expectation, and other obstacles occur, and the act of harming wild protected animals is not criminally responsible.
The so-called emergency avoidance refers to the act of harming the legitimate interests of the smaller party in order to protect the legitimate interests of the smaller party in order to protect the public interest, the personal and other rights of oneself or others from the ongoing dangers. And the possibility of expectation refers to the possibility of expecting a person to abide by the law, people should abide by the law, illegal hunting of wild animals constitutes a crime, but in the case of people who do not harm wild animals will be harmed by wild animals, we simply cannot expect him to obey the law. In other words, although his actions objectively violated criminal law, his actions were not reprehensible.
Of course, human rights to life are higher than the property rights of the state, so it is not illegal to harm wild protected animals such as Siberian tigers, giant pandas and pangolins under personal threats.
6. For example, wild protected animals such as giant pandas and tigers have some captive breeding in zoos, is it illegal to harm these captive animals?
Fu Jian believes that this is also an illegal act. First of all, if it is a rare and endangered animal under national key protection such as a giant panda, although it is artificially raised, according to the relevant provisions of China's Wildlife Protection Law, its essence is artificial breeding, which still belongs to the nature of protected animals. Secondly, even some other common protected animals raised in captivity, their management rights are also owned by zoos, and malicious harm constitutes both malicious damage to other people's property and tortious acts.
Editor: Zhang Heng Shi Shangjing