Shocked by express delivery unboxing, trading tiger cubs sentenced to five years
Compiled from: The Paper, China National Radio Client
Case review
In July 2017, a resident of Xi'an surnamed Liu received a parcel and was shocked to find a dead tiger cub inside upon opening it. The resident immediately called the police. Following investigation, the police determined that the parcel came to light due to a delivery error. This was a criminal case involving wildlife trafficking through express delivery. Recently, the Xi'an Railway Transport Court issued a first-instance judgment, sentencing the two defendants to five years' imprisonment each for endangering precious and endangered wildlife.
According to a statement released by the Xi'an Railway Transport Procuratorate, an investigation found that Chen had contacted Li, an animal trainer at a circus (handled in a separate case), wanting to buy a tiger cub to make medicinal liquor. In July 2017, a female tiger at the circus gave birth to a stillborn cub, and Li privately contacted Chen to sell it for 1,000 yuan. Chen then found a buyer for the tiger cub and contacted Hao to mail the dead cub to a designated location, but it was mistakenly delivered to Liu.
Criminal Law
Article 341: Crime of Endangering Precious and Endangered Wildlife
Illegal hunting, killing, purchasing, transporting, or selling nationally protected precious and endangered wildlife or their products is punishable by up to five years imprisonment or detention, plus fines; for severe cases, five to ten years imprisonment plus fines; for especially severe cases, over ten years imprisonment plus fines or asset forfeiture.
Postal Law
[1] Article 24
Postal enterprises and users must comply with laws, regulations, and State Council provisions on prohibited or restricted items for mailing.
[1] The author's perspective
In this case, the defendant Chen purchased a dead tiger cub from Li, which constitutes the act of acquiring precious and endangered wildlife. Chen then instructed Hao to send it via courier to another person for resale to earn a price difference, which constitutes the act of transporting and selling precious and endangered wildlife. Hao, who was responsible for mailing the courier, committed the act of transporting precious and endangered wildlife.
In 2020, the State Post Bureau issued a notice to the entire industry, requiring all enterprises to strictly implement the acceptance inspection system, inspect on the spot the items handed over by users for posting, and strictly prevent protected wild animals and their products from illegally entering the delivery channels. So why was this express shipment still successfully sent out? If it had not been mistakenly delivered to the wrong recipient by a strange twist of fate, perhaps the individuals involved in the case would have successfully escaped the law. This shows that the express delivery staff were also negligent. Therefore, on the road to protecting precious and endangered wild animals, it is necessary not only to do a good job in public legal education, but also to do a good job in the standardized management of the relevant industries.
