Chinese Court Drops Charges Against Man Who Bought Endangered Parrot Online

Dengzhou Municipal Court in Henan province, China, recently dropped all charges against Zhou Hongxi, who had purchased a monk parakeet online. This case, which concluded on July 30, 2023, underscores the complexities of China's evolving wildlife laws, particularly around the artificial breeding of endangered species [para. 1][para. 2].

In 2020, Zhou bought the parrot from a messaging platform as a pet for his children but later sold it to a pet shop owner, Tang Muo. The parrot was subsequently seized by the Dengzhou City Forest Bureau, as monk parakeets are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which China joined in 1981 [para. 3][para. 4]. Zhou, Tang, and another customer, Xue Mou, were sentenced to prison and fines for illegally purchasing, transporting, and selling a protected animal in November 2021 [para. 5].

Zhou appealed the verdict, arguing that the legal status of wild and artificially bred animals is different and that failure to obtain an artificial breeding license should be classified as an administrative violation, not a crime. Despite being a small case, it highlights broader issues in China's wildlife protection and regulation efforts, such as the farming of bear bile for traditional medicine [para. 6][para. 7]. China's first Law on the Protection of Wildlife (LPW) was enacted in 1988, prohibiting the hunting and breeding of protected species without a license, but the severity of punishments has often been disputed [para. 8][para. 9].

In May 2016, a similar case occurred in Shenzhen, where a man was initially sentenced to five years in prison for selling domesticated green-cheeked conures. His sentence was eventually reduced after appeal, influencing the ongoing debate about wildlife laws [para. 10][para. 11]. In April 2022, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued a new interpretation that treated artificially bred animals differently, provided they met specific conditions, thus setting a new precedent for proportional judgment between crime severity and punishment [para. 12][para. 13][para. 14].

Following this new interpretation, Zhou appealed again. While the Nanyang District Court dismissed his initial appeal in September 2023, the Henan High Court authorized a retrial. Zhou's lawyer cited a pilot program introduced by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) in April 2021, allowing breeders to purchase and raise certain species like the monk parakeet without a breeding license. Given that monk parakeets are not native to China and must be bred in captivity, Zhou argued that his actions should not constitute a crime [para. 15][para. 16].

The Nanyang Intermediate Court sided with Zhou and sent the case back to Dengzhou for retrial, citing insufficient evidence and unclear facts in the original judgment. Ultimately, the prosecution withdrew the case, acknowledging the minor circumstances and insignificant harm caused [para. 17]. The parrot, meanwhile, remains at the Nanyang Zoo [para. 18].

This case has emphasized the need for clearer regulations and a more nuanced approach to artificial breeding and wildlife trade in China, a topic of ongoing discussion among legal scholars and policymakers [para. 19]. The prosecution’s decision to drop the case reflects evolving attitudes towards wildlife protection, balancing legal enforcement with the realities of domesticated and artificially bred animals [para. 20].