A few days ago, a criminal incidental civil public interest lawsuit involving the illegal hunting of rare and endangered wild animals (owls) has aroused public concern. Many enthusiastic readers have left messages to the upstream news hotline 966966/upstream news APP: "Curious, what is the basis for the 'calculation' and judgment significance of the civil compensation involved in the case?" ”
On December 9, upstream journalists interviewed the relevant procurators of the Dadukou District Procuratorate to explain the case.
Case Review: An owl was captured
In December last year, defendants Yang X and Luo X caught birds in a forest in Jumping Town, Dadukou District, by setting up a bird catching net, and informed Fan of the matter. In February this year, Fan found a bird catching net and captured an owl after being guided by Yang, and immediately called the police after passing by the villagers.
According to the identification of Sichuan Nanshan Forestry Judicial Appraisal Center, the above-mentioned owl species are owls, owl families, forest owls, and gray forest owls, which belong to the national level II key protected wild animals.
Subsequently, the Dadukou District Procuratorate invited Southwest University to assess and determine that the total value of a gray forest owl captured by the defendant involved ecological damage, including rescue costs, population loss caused by inability to reproduce that year, and inability to prey on rats for about 8 months.
Trial verdict: Bear criminal responsibility and lose money
The Dadukou District Procuratorate filed a case to carry out a criminal incidental civil public interest litigation investigation, transferred it to a centralized jurisdiction to prosecute poachers, and issued a pre-litigation procuratorial recommendation to the District Planning and Natural Resources Bureau.
Combined with the procuratorial recommendations, the Dadukou District Government issued a notice on the wildlife game reserve and the hunting ban period.
At trial, the Jiangjin District People's Court held that defendants Yang X, Luo X, and Fan X illegally hunted rare and endangered wild animals under key national protection, and their conduct constituted the crime of illegally hunting rare and endangered wild animals. This act destroys national wildlife resources, causes damage to ecological resources, and infringes on the societal public interest, and shall bear civil compensation liability in accordance with law.
Based on the facts, circumstances, harmful consequences, confession and remorse of the three defendants, and the damage to ecological resources caused by the three defendants, the court, while ruling that the defendants bear criminal responsibility, ordered the three defendants to jointly compensate 22,720 yuan for ecological damage caused by illegal hunting of wild animals. At the same time, the three people were ordered to apologize to the public in the Chongqing municipal media.
Basis for compensation: calculation of the value of ecological damage
The relevant procurator of the Dadukou District Procuratorate said that this case is a criminal incidental civil public interest litigation case of illegal hunting of rare and endangered wild animals. Wildlife resources play an important role in maintaining biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance. In this case, the three defendants caught a grey forest owl by installing a bird catching net, and their illegal hunting behavior destroyed the national wildlife resources and caused damage to ecological resources, and they should bear the responsibility for public interest infringement. The determination of the value of the ecological damage caused by the defendant's conduct is of typical significance. Therefore, the ecological damage involved in the defendant's capture of the grey forest owl included the cost of rescue of a grey forest owl, the loss of population due to the inability to reproduce in that year, and the total ecological damage of the gray forest owl's inability to prey on rats for about 8 months.
According to the prosecutor, the cost of rescue of the grey forest owl is a direct cost and is relatively easy to determine. However, the ecological damage caused by the grey forest owl involved in the case being transferred to the Chongqing Zoo for breeding and rescue due to injury not only includes direct losses, but also includes the loss of the population of the grey forest owl due to the inability to reproduce in the year of injury and the ecological damage value of the inability to prey on rats:
First, there is the issue of population loss caused by the inability of the grey forest owl to reproduce that year. The reproduction of wild animals is of great significance to the maintenance of biodiversity, the continuation of biological resources and ecological balance. The breeding period of grey forest owl in Chongqing is from March to May, and the grey forest owl involved in the case was captured in February 2020 and has been in rescue after being seized by the police, and the ambulance unit has given the opinion that it takes a total of 8 months to rescue and cannot participate in breeding this year. Based on the fertility of grey forest owl spawning and hatching, according to the Measures for the Value Assessment of Wild Animals and Their Products, the ecological losses caused by the grey forest owl population in Chongqing in 2020 due to this case were calculated.
Secondly, there is the issue of ecological damage caused by grey forest owls not being able to prey on rodents. Through the food chain, wild animals continuously circulate the material energy in the ecosystem, which can maintain the dynamic balance of the entire ecosystem, and the stability of the ecosystem is of great value to the stability of the entire society. Grey forest owls feed on insects and wild rats, and the vast majority of rodents endanger agricultural and forestry production. According to the relevant scientific literature, the annual catch of the grey forest owl can be estimated, the rescue period of the grey forest owl involved in the case is 8 months, and the ecological damage of the gray forest owl in this case cannot prey on the rats for about 8 months according to the cost of capturing the rats in the wild by artificial substitution, and it can be calculated that the gray forest owl in this case cannot prey on the rats for about 8 months.
Finally, the prosecutor once again reminded the general public that only by protecting wild animals and maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance can we achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Upstream journalist Chen Hua / Wen Liu Ling / Cover drawing
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