China steps up drive against crimes involving wildlife

Authorities in China have intensified the crackdown on crimes involving wild animals, and the police have resolved about 70,000 such criminal cases over the past three years, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

In 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, approved the decision on prohibiting the trade of wildlife and banning the eating wildlife.

The ministry launched a three-year nationwide operation in 2020 targeting crimes against wildlife, including illegal activities involving eating wildlife, harming rare and endangered wildlife and illegal hunting and fishing.

Lyu Wuqin, head of the ministry's Food and Drug Crime Investigation Bureau, said that public security organs worked closely with other administrative departments to solicit clues and combat the criminal networks.

"Public security organs have thoroughly studied the law of such crimes, investigated relevant clues, and severely cracked down on the illegal hunting, purchase, transportation and sale of terrestrial wildlife in accordance with the law. The ministry also supervised the handling of 45 major cases involving wild animals," said Lyu.

From 2020 to 2022, police investigated about 70,000 criminal cases involving wildlife, detained 90,000 suspects and seized 1.37 million wild animals and 180,000 kilograms of wildlife products.

Lyu said that China's public security organs have strengthened international law enforcement cooperation, actively participated in international actions organized by Interpol and investigated 109 cases involving overseas wildlife, demonstrating China's image as a responsible major country in wildlife protection.

Over the three years, the ministry has issued a series of law enforcement guidelines and normative documents on combating wildlife crimes, and the local governments have also formulated several systems and norms, such as measures for connecting administrative law enforcement with criminal justice and guidelines for obtaining evidence against wildlife crimes, to effectively support the crackdown, he said.