The snow leopard in a park in Xining, Northwest China's Qinghai Province. Photo: VCG

Multiple defendants received prison sentences ranging from four to 12 years for killing national first-class protected wild animals, including snow leopards, according to five typical biodiversity protection cases China's Supreme People's Court released on Wednesday.

In one case, the defendant was sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing snow leopards, a national first-class protected wild animal species, in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 

The defendant set traps, killed the snow leopards with ropes and knives, and later skinned them. He then abandoned the remains, and transferred the processed pelts to his home for concealment. Police found five snow leopard skins from his home, three from adults and two from cubs. 

The court sentenced the defendant 12 years in prison and fined him 50,000 yuan ($7,384.70) after convicting him of endangering precious and endangered wild animals and other offenses. 

In another case, two defendants illegally captured three wild yak calves, also a national first-class protected wild animal, in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Northwest China's Qinghai Province, in July 2024, causing all three calves to die one after another. 

The two defendants were sentenced to five years and six months, and six years in prison, respectively, and each was fined 30,000 yuan ($4,441).

Another case involved four defendants sentenced to prison terms ranging from four years to five years and three months for killing Oriental storks. 

In August 2023, the four defendants discussed together hunting wild animals to eat. They discovered four wild white "large birds" near a village in Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province, and jointly decided to kill them. They were interrupted by local villagers and fled the scene. Their actions caused two Oriental white cranes to lose the ability to move and later died after rescue efforts failed. 

Of the remaining two cases, one involved a defendant who collected wild national protected plant species from Xishuang Banna in Southwest China's Yunnan Province; the other was a public interest lawsuit in which the court ordered an administrative authority in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to fully perform its duties following the spread of an invasive alien species.

Global Times