China News Service, November 30 (Li Shuzheng, Zhang Wenjiao, Ji Dongfang) The reporter learned from Shanghai Third Intermediate People’s Court (hereinafter referred to as Shanghai Third Intermediate Court) on the 30th that the court recently opened a public hearing on a case of illegal trade in serval cats. The verdict of the first instance was made in court.
The serval, also known as the African serval, belongs to the mammalian cat family.
Their "wind ears" are very happy, and a pair of long legs can be called the most "cats", which also makes them the focus of the pet trade.
However, the serval is not a domestic pet cat, but a wild "big cat" of the same family as tigers, lions, and leopards. It is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union. "List", in China, refer to the national secondary protected animal management.
In April 2018, the defendants Shen and Zhang jointly opened a pet supplies store.
On May 6 of the same year, the two defendants jointly negotiated to purchase a serval at a price of 80,000 yuan (RMB, the same below) from WeChat named "A Good-tempered Girl" (a separate case) through WeChat, which was later caused by poor breeding. The Serval died unexpectedly.
Later, on the 26th of the same month, he purchased a second Serval from the seller at a price of 88,000 yuan.
On the 30th of the same month, a third Serval was purchased from WeChat named "A Dabao Sister" (a separate case dealt with) through WeChat for 68,000 yuan.
Later defendants Shen and Zhang entrusted "Sister A Dabao" to find buyers for the serval. After "Sister A Dabao" contacted other buyers to sell, the two defendants paid 50,000 yuan on January 25, 2019. Sells the third Serval to "Sister A Dabao" at the price of.
On February 19, 2020, the Economic Crime Investigation Corps of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau seized a second serval on the spot in the pet supplies store opened by Shen and Zhang.
The Shanghai Wildlife Species Appraisal Center and the Shanghai Forestry Station determined that the three mammalian species illegally purchased by the defendants Zhang and Shen were servals, referring to the national second-level protected animal management.
The detained Serval has been handed over to the Shanghai Wildlife Conservation Affairs Center by the investigative agency for legal processing.
On the same day, the defendant Shen went to the investigative agency for investigation after being notified, and the defendant Zhang was caught by the investigative agency. Both defendants confessed to the above facts after arriving in the case.
During the trial, the expert assistant appeared in court and stated that the serval is a mammalian cat, mainly distributed in Africa. It is not a domestic pet cat that is generally understood, but a wild big cat of the same family as tigers, lions and leopards. It is in the ecological chain. There is a more important position, at the top of the food chain, it is a species with a higher protection level, and its role in regulating the balance of the ecosystem and the quality of the biodiversity and ecosystem should be considered.
Although the serval is an alien species, the ecological environment knows no borders. The earth is the common home of mankind. It should uphold the concept of global integrated protection of ecological environment and resources and adhere to the public attributes of ecological environment and biological resources.
Defendants Zhang and Shen were sentenced to imprisonment for one year and six months, probation for one year and six months, and imprisonment for one year and three months, and probation for one year and three months for the crime of illegally purchasing and selling precious and endangered wild animals. Each month, he was fined 5,000 yuan.
According to the law, the court ordered the defendants in the attached civil public interest litigation Zhang and Shen to publicly apologize to the public and jointly compensate the loss of wildlife resources by RMB 7,500.
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