The Spring Festival of the Year of the Rat in 2020 is destined to go down in history because of its "particularity", and the sporadic pneumonia news in Hubei since January has not diluted the joy of the people of the whole country about to reunite as a family to welcome the New Year, until the announcement of the "lockdown" in Wuhan on the 23rd, people seem to feel the gap between ideals and reality overnight, and feel the severity of epidemic prevention and control. In the past week, life has been full of variety, and it has also been vividly displayed in this crisis, and all kinds of news have constantly filled the senses of the Chinese people: the rising number of confirmed cases, the People's Liberation Army that rushed to the front line at the first time, the most beautiful retrograde, the Wuhan people who sang the national anthem...

In the face of the epidemic, while praising devotees, as legal people, we still have to reflect on whether this epidemic is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster... 84-year-old academician Zhong Nanshan said: The source of the new coronavirus is likely to be wild animals, such as bamboo rats, badgers, etc... After SARS, the relationship between humans and animals, and how humans and animals can coexist "peacefully", has once again become a hot topic. If medical personnel are life-saving "angels" who can heal people's physical diseases, as legal people, we cannot simply condemn those who eat wild game with the mentality of "curiosity" and "vanity", but more need to consider from the legislative level, how to further improve relevant laws and regulations. "Law is the minimum morality", the law is the minimum standard of human behavior, and morality is a higher standard, legal people can not regulate people's behavior from a moral height, but we should consider how to restrict the minimum requirements of people's behavior from the legal level.

It should be noted that wild animals and the problems derived from them involve the supervision of many administrative departments, and the author cannot repeat them all, here, we will only discuss them from the perspective of "wildlife protection".

1. Existing laws and regulations related to "wildlife protection"

Through the legal information search engine, the author retrieved the following laws and administrative regulations using "wild animals as keywords":

1 Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wild Animals

Effective October 26, 2018

2 Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Implementation of the Protection of Terrestrial Wild Animals

Effective 2016.02.06

3 Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Aquatic Wild Animals

Effective December 07, 2013

In addition, the General Office of the State Council and various ministries and commissions have also issued letters, notices and announcements on wildlife trading and supervision. We found that in addition to the Wildlife Protection Law promulgated in 2018 and the emergency notices and announcements issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the State Forestry and Grassland Administration to prevent and control the epidemic, most judicial interpretations and ministerial documents have problems such as long promulgation time, inability to adapt to the status quo of wildlife trade, and lagging implementation. Take the notice issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the State Forestry and Grassland Administration as an example, there is a clear time limit, "from the date of this announcement to the period of lifting the national epidemic", then, driven by interests, will the trade in wild animals "resume" after the epidemic ends?

2. The main contents of the existing "wildlife protection"

Further sorting out the aforementioned laws and regulations, the main contents of the existing "wildlife protection" include the following aspects:

1. Protected "wild animals" refers to precious and endangered terrestrial and aquatic wild animals and terrestrial wild animals of important ecological, scientific and social value, including the whole (including eggs and eggs) and parts of wild animals and their derivatives.

2. Precious and endangered wild animals shall be protected in key areas. Wild animals under national key protection are divided into first-class protected wild animals and second-class protected wild animals. The list of wild animals under national key protection is evaluated and adjusted every five years. According to the "List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection" inquired by the author, bamboo rats, badgers, bats, etc. are not among the "key protected wild animals" (this is related to the general tone of the "protection and rational utilization" of wild animals formulated by the Wildlife Protection Law, focusing on the supervision of wild animals under national key protection, while the supervision of wild animals not under national key protection is relatively weak, and the major relationship between animals and people cannot be foreseen at that time).

3. Several "prohibitions"

(1) It is forbidden to hunt or kill wild animals under national key protection.

(2) It is forbidden to sell, buy or use wild animals under national key protection and their products.

(3) It is prohibited to produce or trade food made from wild animals under national key protection and their products, or to use food made from wild animals and their products that are not under national key protection without proof of legal source.

(4) It is forbidden to illegally purchase wild animals under national key protection and their products for consumption.

(5) It is forbidden to publish advertisements for the sale, purchase, use of wild animals or prohibited hunting tools. It is forbidden to advertise wildlife products that are illegally sold, purchased, or used.

(6) It is forbidden to provide trading services for the illegal sale, purchase, or use of wild animals and their products, or prohibited hunting tools, online trading platforms, commodity trading markets, and other trading venues.

4. Where special circumstances require hunting wild animals, they shall apply for a special hunting license from the competent departments at all levels; Those who hunt wild animals that are not under national key protection shall be subject to the management of hunting quotas in addition to applying for a hunting license.

3. The main criminal liability for violations of "wildlife protection"

The author mainly summarizes and summarizes the criminal liabilities related to "wildlife protection", and does not involve smuggling, inspection and quarantine.

After inquiring into the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crimes involved mainly include the crime of illegally hunting and killing precious and endangered wild animals; The crime of illegally acquiring, transporting, or selling precious or endangered wild animals or precious or endangered wildlife products; the crime of illegal hunting, etc.

The specific provisions of the law are mainly Article 341: Whoever illegally hunts or kills precious or endangered wild animals under key national protection, or illegally purchases, transports or sells precious or endangered wild animals under key national protection and their products, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall be fined; where the circumstances are serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; where the circumstances are particularly serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, and shall also be fined or have their property confiscated.

Violating hunting laws and regulations, hunting in game reserves, during prohibited hunting periods, or using prohibited tools or methods, destroying wildlife resources, and the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, surveillance, or fines.

4. Legal advice on "wildlife protection"

1. Change of thinking: As mentioned above, the general legislative tone of the Wildlife Protection Law is the protection and rational use of wild animals. We suggest that the pandemic be used as a reference to shift the overall tone of wildlife conservation to the protection of humans and wildlife, give more consideration to the relationship between humans and animals, and expand the scope of prohibitions on trading, transporting, producing, selling and eating wild animals. Of course, this requires the State Council, inspection and quarantine, health, public security, agriculture, forestry, water and animal husbandry and other departments to coordinate and jointly explore scientific and reasonable "protection" measures.

2. Adopt scientific means, use big data, keep pace with the times, and strengthen the crackdown on the trade of wild animals and products through the Internet, WeChat and other channels; Strengthen the supervision of the whole chain of hunting, killing, acquisition, transportation, sale, smuggling, and eating wild animals, strictly control the issuance of hunting licenses, wildlife business licenses, etc., and severely crack down on the agency and affiliation of relevant concessions and derived criminal acts.

3. The Criminal Law is the last "line of defense" to safeguard the interests of the state, the public and the people, and it is recommended to further improve the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law, and those who illegally eat wild animals also bear criminal responsibility.

Human cleverness lies in the ability to learn lessons and to reflect. The epidemic can be described as menacing and unexpected, which is related to the lack of human understanding of the new virus and the lack of such developed science; At the same time, this is also the "resistance" of animals to the "crazy" behavior of humans. When an avalanche, not a single snowflake is innocent ... 84-year-old academician Zhong Nanshan had tears in his eyes when he talked about Wuhan being a "hero city", and 73-year-old academician Li Lanjuan struggled in the laboratory when she connected with CCTV for several nights... They represent all respectable and lovely people, they are the backbone of the Chinese nation's protest against the epidemic, and they shoulder the hope of the Chinese people. Fear nature, life, science, we must continue to learn to live in harmony with nature and animals, and do not stupidly repeat the same mistakes. Come on China! Come on Hubei! Come on Wuhan!

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)