Why are the consequences of catching three frogs so serious? It turned out that the man caught the only frog listed as a second-level protected wild animal in the country - the tiger frog. The reporter learned that my country’s criminal law “criminalizes” illegal hunting and selling of state-protected animals, and illegal hunting and selling of some wild animals can result in a prison sentence of more than ten years.
For hunting three tiger frogs, the man was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for six months.
On the evening of May 30, 2013, Li Moujun, a farmer in Wenling, Zhejiang, hunted three frogs with his bare hands in a ditch in a field and was caught on the spot by the Wenling Municipal Public Security Bureau police.
The reporter checked the China Judgment Documents Network, and the first-instance judgment of the Wenling Court in Zhejiang showed that the three wild frogs involved in the case were all tiger-striped frogs, which were national second-level protected wild animals with an estimated value of 65,438 yuan + 0.500 yuan. . After Li Moujun returned to the case, he truthfully confessed the facts involved in the case. The three tiger frogs were released by the public security organs, voluntarily pleaded guilty, and accepted the sentencing recommendations made by the public prosecution agency.
The court held that the defendant Li Moujun violated wildlife protection laws and regulations and used night lights to hunt national second-level protected wild animals, which constituted the crime of illegal hunting of precious and endangered wild animals. The prosecutor charged him with a crime. In view of the fact that the defendant Li Moujun truthfully confessed the facts of his crime after being brought to justice, voluntarily pleaded guilty in court, and indeed showed repentance, it was decided in accordance with the law that he should be given a lighter punishment and be given a suspended sentence.
Recently, the Wenling Court made a first-instance judgment on this case. Defendant Li Moujun was convicted of illegally hunting rare and endangered wild animals and was sentenced to five months' detention, suspended for six months, and fined RMB 3,000.
Illegal hunting and selling of national protected animals is a "one crime"
Can you be punished for catching three frogs? Many people may have such questions.
The reporter learned that tiger frogs often live in paddy fields, ditches, ponds and other places with water below 900 meters above sea level. In nature, it mainly preys on insects such as locusts, butterfly moths, and dragonflies. In my country, it is mainly distributed south of the Yangtze River. The tiger frog was listed as a national second-level protected animal in 1989. More importantly, it is the only frog so far included in the list of national key protected wild animals.
The lawyer told reporters that Article 341 of my country’s Criminal Law stipulates the crime of illegal hunting and killing of precious and endangered wild animals. According to this article, anyone who illegally hunts or kills rare and endangered wild animals under key state protection, or illegally purchases, transports, or sells rare and endangered wild animals under key state 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; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years and shall also be fined or his property shall be confiscated.
In other words, China’s criminal law “criminalizes” the illegal hunting and sale of animals protected by the state. However, the judicial interpretation has made specific provisions on the identification standards of "serious circumstances" and "particularly serious circumstances" in such criminal cases.
For tiger frogs, a score of 100 is considered "severe" and a score of 200 is considered "extremely serious".
Hunting a golden monkey or giant panda can result in a prison sentence of more than 10 years.
The reporter noticed that the judicial interpretation provided stricter quantitative identification standards for some national first-level protected animals.
For wild animals such as golden monkeys, giant pandas, clouded leopards, leopards, snow leopards, tigers, Asian elephants, wild horses, saiga antelopes, and red antelopes, as long as one animal is illegally hunted, killed, acquired, transported, and sold , the circumstances are particularly serious. According to the criminal law, the parties concerned should be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and be fined or have their property confiscated.
Checking the China Judgment Documents Network, the search results show that there are 81 judgment documents regarding the illegal hunting and killing of precious and endangered wild animals by tiger frog criminals, and the illegal acquisition, transportation and sale of precious and endangered wild animals. There are 106 judgment documents on crimes related to animals and precious and endangered wildlife products. In these cases, regardless of "catching", "selling" or "buying", the relevant parties have been severely punished by the law.
Xu Xudong said that in fact, China’s laws protect wild animals very strongly, but many people often do not understand the relevant laws, so they do not think that the consequences of destroying wild animals are so serious.
The fair and strict judgments of relevant cases have also sounded the alarm for such crimes.