I never thought that raising a turtle could break the law. ?Xiao Guo from Jiangxia, Wuhan, Hubei purchased two turtles as pets through WeChat Moments and kept them in special boxes. However, what Xiao Guo did not expect was that because of these two turtles, he would not only violate the criminal law, but also be fined. ?

At the end of 2019, 26-year-old Guo was feeling depressed and wanted to buy a turtle as a pet to relax. While browsing information on pet turtles online, he found someone saying that the box turtle was very well-behaved, so he decided to buy one online. "I know it is a protected animal, but I don't want to harm it," Guo said. He bought one online without thinking too much. After carefully raising it for a period of time, Guo became more and more fond of the box turtle, so he bought another one, and finally spent more than 2,800 yuan to buy two online. In 2020, a businessman selling yellow box turtles online was caught by the public security organs, and the public security organs followed the clues and found Guo. After careful identification, the two turtles Guo bought were yellow-margined box turtles and were determined to be endangered wild animals, so the public security organs captured Guo.

On January 27, the East District People’s Court of Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province learned that on November 20, a case of buying and selling rare and endangered wild animals tortoises was pronounced in the Panzhihua East District People’s Court. The defendant Zhao Moumou He was convicted of illegally selling rare and endangered wild animals and was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for one year, and fined RMB 5,000. The defendant Ma Moumou was convicted of illegally acquiring precious and endangered wild animals and was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year, and fined RMB 3,000. In view of Guo's truthful confession of his crime and his voluntary confession and punishment, the court treated Guo leniently and sentenced him to five months' detention, suspended for six months, and fined him RMB 2,000. And published a court-approved apology statement in news media at or above the prefectural or municipal level. ?

Finally, the judge reminded that before raising an animal, you should first confirm whether you can buy it, check the species of the animal you want to buy online, and find out whether the animal you want to buy is a nationally protected wild animal or an endangered wild animal. You can also check Relevant laws stipulate that you should avoid committing crimes due to ignorance, let alone breaking the law without knowing it.