This year, Xiaojuan, who is only 16 years old, comes from a relatively privileged family and is quite trendy. She loves online shopping. To be different from her peers, she wanted to buy a pet for the Spring Festival. On February 1st, when she saw someone selling a monkey-like pet online, she took out her 7000 yuan of lucky money and bought one online to keep at home. But after playing with it for a few days, she felt that this pet looked familiar. After checking online, she increasingly realized that this little thing resembled a rhesus monkey, which is a national protected animal! She was a bit worried inside. The picture shows the two rescued three-month-old rhesus monkeys.
After preliminary investigation, it was found that the online seller, Liang, is from Xinye, Henan Province and is 20 years old. A few years ago, he caught a pair of male and female rhesus monkeys while cutting firewood on the mountain. He kept the rhesus monkeys at home as pets. In November last year, the female monkey gave birth to two baby monkeys. Knowing how valuable the rhesus monkeys were, he put the two baby monkeys in two small baskets at home. To prevent them from escaping, he covered them with wire mesh and cloth. Then he took a truck to Wuhan, rented a house, and started posting information online. On February 1st, he successfully sold one to Xiaojuan for 7000 yuan, and on February 5th, there was another buyer wanting to buy the remaining one, so he eagerly went to the transaction site without any suspicion.
Currently, considering Xiaojuan's ignorance and lack of awareness, the police only criticized and educated her. The two rescued baby rhesus monkeys have been sent to Jiufeng Forest Park, and the case has been formally handed over to the Wuhan Forest Police for further investigation. It was learned yesterday that Liang was criminally detained on suspicion of transporting and selling endangered wildlife. Liang was dumbfounded; he had no idea it would lead to such serious consequences.
Xiaojuan was therefore very troubled. When Officer Duan Lian heard this, he was secretly shocked and decided to investigate further despite being sick. He immediately revealed his identity and questioned the situation in detail. From his judgment, he believed that this monkey could not be traded. On one hand, he reported the situation to his superiors, and on the other hand, he invited zoology experts to Xiaojuan's home to identify her "treasure."
"The 'Little Treasure' Turns Out to Be a Baby Rhesus Monkey"
According to the police: neither the buyer nor the seller knows the seriousness of trading wild protected animals. According to Article 341 of the Criminal Law, illegally purchasing, transporting, or selling precious and endangered wildlife under national protection and their products shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of less than five years or criminal detention, and a fine; if the circumstances are serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than five years but less than ten years, and a fine; if the circumstances are especially serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years, and a fine or confiscation of property. The rhesus monkey is an endangered wild animal in our country and is listed as a second-class key protected animal.
Journalist Wan Qin, Correspondents Li Yusheng, Wei Peng
At around 4 PM on February 5th, a taxi stopped at Guannan Station. A tall, thin young man about 1.7 meters tall got out, carrying a large black canvas bag. After Xiaojuan carefully identified him, it turned out that he was the person selling rhesus monkeys online. The young man was arrested on the spot by the officers lying in wait, and another three-month-old baby rhesus monkey was seized from his backpack.
On February 5th, coincidentally, her good friend went to the Guanggu Branch of Hubei Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital to see a doctor. She visited her friend and talked enthusiastically about the fun of this pet while also expressing her troubles. If it was a rhesus monkey, it is a second-class national protected animal and cannot be registered. Throwing it away would be a waste of so much money and yet keeping it posed its own set of problems.
The 16-year-old "post-90s" girl Xiaojuan (a pseudonym) spent nearly 7000 yuan to buy a monkey as a pet online. While visiting her friend at the hospital, she boasted about her "little treasure" to her friend. Unbeknownst to her, Officer Duan Lian from the Donghu New Technology Development Zone, who happened to be there for medical treatment, overheard her. This was clearly an illegal act of selling a national protected animal. He immediately intervened in the investigation and designed a plan to catch the online seller of rhesus monkeys, Liang. Yesterday, Liang was criminally detained by the police on suspicion of selling wild protected animals.
After careful comparison by the experts, it was determined that the "treasure" Xiaojuan kept was indeed a second-class national protected animal - the rhesus monkey. Xiaojuan and her family also realized the seriousness of arbitrarily trading protected animals. She actively provided another important clue to the police: the seller was not much older and had posted online that he had 2 monkeys for sale. Officer Duan Lian decided to "lure the snake out of its cave" - he posted information online, intending to buy another rhesus monkey at a similar price. Sure enough, the eager-to-sell seller quickly replied willing to make a deal. After negotiation, the transaction location was chosen at the bus stop at the entrance of Guannan Community.
The officer disguised himself as a buyer to lure the monkey seller.