A Former Head of the Beijing Wildlife Conservation and Management Station Assisted in the Illegal Trade of Wildlife Products and Has Been Sentenced to 13 Years in the First Instance | CBCGDF Calls for In-depth Investigations Across the Country- 中国生物多样性保护与绿色发展基金会

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A Former Head of the Beijing Wildlife Conservation and Management Station Assisted in the Illegal Trade of Wildlife Products and Has Been Sentenced to 13 Years in the First Instance | CBCGDF Calls for In-depth Investigations Across the Country

2020/10/18 15:46:00 本站

The court decision showed that Wang Minzhong has served as the head of the Beijing Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management Station since August 2000. It is a public institution funded by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscaping and Greening.

Before being detained, Wang Minzhong served as the stationmaster for nearly 19 years. The right to identify and approve sales of wild animal products such as musk, pangolin scales, and antelope horns has long been reduced to tools for making money and seeking rent.

The media recently learned that Wang Minzhong has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by the court of first instance for the crime of accepting bribes and a huge amount of property from unknown sources. The court found that Wang Minzhong had accepted more than 8.019 million yuan in bribes from a number of medicinal material merchants and others, and another 49.125 million yuan in property could not explain its legal source. After the verdict was pronounced in the first instance, Wang Minzhong did not appeal.

What is striking about this case is the offender’s embezzlement. As the head of the Beijing Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management Station, he helped companies and individuals who illegally trade wildlife products to engage in the “business” of trading wildlife products. This made the public suddenly realize that those who are entrusted with protection duties by the law are the black hands who cruel wild animals.

The construction of ecological civilization has become the consensus of the whole people, and great achievements have been made in practice. However, it is obvious that there are still many big problems in the protection of wild animals and endangered species. For example, there are many problems in the protection of pangolins. At present, pangolins have become China's national first-class protected animals. There are special rescue stations in many places. However, the actual situation is that the more protected pangolins, the smaller the number, and they are already on the verge of extinction. There must be a reason for this reality that runs counter to the original intention of protection.

China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) has been making great efforts to protect the pangolins in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but it has been repeatedly resisted and the actual effect is very limited. Obviously, there are other hidden reasons.

In the case of Beijing, such a high bribe amount proves that there is such a high extra profit. Other companies are developing pangolin-related businesses. Who is sharing the extra high profits? This is a very clear fact, which is a result of the market. And this is a case related to approval in Beijing. It is just the tip of the iceberg.

With so many pangolins sent from Guangxi, where is the extra profit on such a larger scale? For a long time, the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and its affiliates have habitually “fostered” all kinds of rare wild animals that have been seized by forest police, customs and other law enforcement personnel to some domestication and breeding enterprises, used as seed sources, and even "paid seed source allocation" (this is actually illegal trading).

In 2019, according to a survey conducted by CBCGDF volunteers across the country, in addition to a steel business company in Guangdong Province, a company in Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province, a company in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guangxi Academy of Forestry, as well as a company in Yunnan Province, the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also delivered various national level protected wild animals to more enterprises through “fostering”, “source allocation” and “paid seed source allocation”. A company in Bozhou, Anhui, a botanical garden in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a zoo in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a snake breeding base in Nanning City, a crocodile technology company in Nanning City, a crocodile breeding base in Dongxing City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, etc., have received “fostering” of all kinds of rare wild animals.

CBCGDF pangolin working group ever asked the question long ago to the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, about the "black hole" style of fostering wild animals. CBCGDF has been hoping that the National Forestry and Grassland Administration will give full attention and investigate it, to avoid all kinds of rare wild animals were inexplicably "disappeared" and "dead” after being rescued.

In the recommendations by the Secretary-General of CBCGDF on amending the Wildlife Protection Law, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng said, is recommended to establish the mechanism of investigation and responsibility. Now the most important thing is that individuals in the government are used by illegal interest groups. After doing these illegal things, there is no cost or lesson. For example, some personnel of the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have done so many illegal things, but they still remain in their positions and did not take any responsibilities. If we don’t establish this accountability mechanism, the new law will be a dead letter. Now a large number of licenses and certificates have become the umbrella of illegal acts, which is the lack of relevant investigation and responsibility mechanism.

CBCGDF once again strongly appeals that when the judgment of this Beijing case becomes effective, relevant departments must conduct thorough investigations in accordance with the law in the field of wildlife protection across the country, to crack down on criminals who use the guise of protecting wild animals and seek personal gain, especially to crack down on criminals like Wang Minzhong who violate the law while enforcing the law, to effectively promote the protection of wild animals and endangered species in China.

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