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dense swarms of cockroaches were released from the box, and the black shadows of the insects scattered in all directions and disappeared into the flower bed in an instant.

recently, a video of "a woman in langfang city, hebei province releasing cockroaches in a residential area" went viral online, sparking heated discussions among netizens.

the video shows a middle-aged woman in a yellow t-shirt being photographed by witnesses releasing live cockroaches in a community flowerbed. the woman brought a total of five boxes, and except for the box in her hand, the other four boxes were empty.

the picture and text are unrelated. source: visual china

a recent investigation by reporters found that such "private release" behaviors occur from time to time. previously, a homeowner in a residential area brought cockroaches to the garden downstairs and released them; someone released hundreds of snakes in a park, causing anxiety among local residents, and the relevant departments placed warning signs on the scene; someone released foreign species such as red-eared sliders in freshwater lakes, causing foreign species invasion; there are even more "weird" releases, such as mineral water and fish tofu...

in recent years, many cases of releasing animals into the wild have become farces, and some people who violated the rules have been fined and punished. can we release animals at will in my country? what legal responsibilities may be incurred if problems arise from releasing animals at will? how to regulate the act of releasing animals into the wild? the reporter conducted an interview on this.

releasing animals should be regulated by law

do not destroy the ecological balance

according to the staff of the street office of the community in langfang, hebei, after the cockroach release incident, the property company carried out comprehensive disinfection work in the surrounding area. currently, the police have intervened in the investigation.

the farce of "releasing cockroaches" is not an isolated case.

at the end of august this year, a video circulated online, showing a man in jilin releasing cockroaches in a downtown area. witnesses said that the man released hundreds of cockroaches at one time, and he tried to dissuade him but to no avail. in may 2023, an owner of a community in tianhe district, guangzhou city, guangdong province released several boxes of cockroaches, which worried many residents. the community property company then carried out a comprehensive disinfection of the environment and communicated with the owner who released the cockroaches. the owner promised not to release cockroaches again.

liu hongyan, a researcher at the institute of law of the chinese academy of social sciences and director of the ecological law research office, said that in china, releasing animals at will is not completely free from legal constraints. according to the wildlife protection law, the environmental protection law and other relevant laws and regulations,the act of releasing animals should at least meet the following requirements:the species released must be non-invasive species and cannot be wild animals that are prohibited from release; the release of protected animals requires approval from the relevant departments; the release must not destroy the local ecological balance, such as releasing alien species into the local environment, as this may pose a threat to local species and cause ecological imbalance; release must not be carried out in public places, residential areas or other places that are not suitable for release. the release location should be an environment suitable for the survival of the organisms.

in liu hongyan's opinion, releasing cockroaches in public places may involve multiple legal issues:

the woman's behavior of releasing cockroaches in the communitymay be considered a disturbance of public order,especially if the behavior causes public panic or damages the public environment, the woman may be subject to administrative penalties such as warnings, fines or detention.

according to the communicable disease prevention and control law and related regulations, releasing a large number of cockroaches, especially in residential areas, may pose a threat to public health. cockroaches are common pests that carry a variety of pathogens and may cause the spread of diseases. therefore, this behavior may be considered a nuisance to public health.

if the number of cockroaches released is huge and has a serious impact on the lives and health of community residents, or even causes a more serious public safety incident, it may escalate into a criminal case or be prosecuted for crimes such as endangering public safety and disrupting social management order.

"overall, the woman's behavior may have violated the public security administration punishment law and relevant public health regulations. she may be subject to administrative penalties or even face criminal liability. the specific punishment needs to be determined based on the investigation results and the actual harmfulness of the behavior," said liu hongyan.

free animals for blessing

leading to the invasion of alien species

on social media platforms, the reporter saw many examples and sharing posts of releasing animals for blessing. investigations and interviews found that many private releases were carried out in the name of "praying for blessing", but ended up in farce.

in december 2020, a woman named xu from changzhou, jiangsu went to the local aquatic market and bought 25,000 kilograms of catfish from liu to pray for her relatives and friends. she spent a total of 90,400 yuan. she then secretly released them into the local changdang lake. as a result, a large number of catfish died, and it took the fishery department 10 days to complete the salvage.

in 2022, the procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit with the court, demanding that xu and liu compensate for ecological damages. on february 3 last year, the case was heard and the verdict was pronounced in court. the court held that the defendants xu and liu constituted joint infringement.they should jointly bear 35,000 yuan in compensation for ecological damage and 5,000 yuan in punitive damages.the compensation will be used to promote the rule of law in the protection of changdang lake's ecological environment. this is the first civil public interest lawsuit in china for illegal release of alien species, and both the buyer and seller were fined.

the picture and text are unrelated. source: visual china

mr. liu from hunan province has been a wildlife conservation volunteer for more than ten years. he has encountered many cases of "private release of animals" where the released species were not adapted to the local ecological environment and ended up being "released to death."

mr. liu said: once, someone released grass carp, silver carp, eel, loach and other different species of fish and creatures in the same area by a river in chengdu, sichuan. loach and eel are more suitable for living in shallow water areas, while grass carp and crucian carp are more suitable for living in deep water areas. releasing loach and eel in deep water areas is likely to cause their death. some people are convinced that releasing animals can eliminate disasters and solve problems, so they release animals regardless of species, releasing more dangerous animals such as snakes, scavengers, alligator gar and other animals into the wild or even in urban areas, causing great damage to the local ecology and causing panic.

liu xuan, a researcher at the institute of zoology, chinese academy of sciences, and his team, in collaboration with more than a dozen domestic and foreign institutions, systematically reviewed more than 9,700 animal releases organized for blessing in the past. from more than 700 common names provided by release records, the researchers identified 29 non-native vertebrate species used in release activities in china, including one amphibian species, one reptile species, four bird species, and 23 freshwater fish species.these findings suggest that the risk of biological invasion associated with releases is generally high.

experts interviewed said that due to the diversity and complexity of released species and their source areas, inappropriate release behavior may cause multiple problems.

first, releasing non-native wildlife species may pose a threat to the local ecosystem, said liu mingming, associate professor at the college of humanities and development at china agricultural university.this will disrupt the balance of the local ecosystem.especially foreign species with strong reproductive capacity or ferocious characteristics. secondly, releasing poisonous, ferocious or unquarantined wild animals may bring risks of personal injury and property damage. these animals may attack humans or other animals in the wild, and the viruses and bacteria they carry may also be spread through water or other channels.possesses potential harm to public health, property safety and the ecological environment.finally, when wild animals that have not been trained for rewilding are released into the wild, they often have difficulty adapting to the new environment and are prone to death.

formulate scientific guidelines for releasing animals

tracking and monitoring the effects of release

in recent years, relevant national departments and some localities have paid attention to the harm of releasing animals into the wild without permission, and have issued targeted documents and measures.

the central government’s no. 1 document of 2023 proposes to crack down on the illegal introduction of alien species, implement a major prevention and control campaign for invasive species, and strengthen the standardized management of the trade and release of “exotic pets”.

the first local regulation in china to regulate the release of wild animals, the guangzhou wild animal release management regulations, came into effect on november 1 last year. it clearly stipulates that areas for the release of wild animals should be demarcated, a wild animal release information management platform should be established, and a daily supervision mechanism for release behavior should be established. within one month of the implementation of the new regulations, 13 applications for the release of aquatic wild animals were accepted.

august 15 this year is the second national ecological day. shuangpai county, hunan province responded positively. the forestry department and forest police worked closely together to scientifically release snakes, frogs and other wild animals that were recently treated and confiscated by law enforcement.

liu hongyan said that legal release of wild animals should follow the necessary procedures prescribed by law.it is usually necessary to report to or file with the local wildlife protection department or ecological environment management department for approval or filing.this includes providing proof of the origin of the released species and related documents. before releasing the species, an ecological risk assessment needs to be conducted on the species to be released to ensure that it will not have a negative impact on the local ecological environment. release activities should be carried out under the guidance of professionals to ensure that the release behavior will not cause harm to the environment and the animals themselves.

the qinglan environmental protection volunteer association of zhuzhou city, hunan province, once conducted an investigation into a release incident, in which a large number of eels were released into the water. because they were separated from their original living environment, the eels died in large numbers after being released, which also seriously affected the water quality.

the association pointed out the current difficulties in the management of releasing animals into the wild: releasing animals into the wild is not a regular, long-term behavior, and people can generally release animals into the wild in any land, water, or forest, making supervision more difficult.

how should we regulate the private release of animals in view of the problems of high degree of arbitrariness and difficulty in supervision?

liu mingming suggested that a scientific guidance system for releasing fish should be established. fisheries, forestry and other relevant departments should jointly formulate scientific guidelines for releasing fish.clarify the specific requirements for release, such as species, quantity, time, and location, to avoid blind release.conduct ecological safety assessments on species to be releasedrisk assessment,ensure that no damage is caused to the local ecosystem. at the same time, the effects of the release are evaluated.tracking and monitoring,adjust the release strategy in a timely manner. increase supervision and law enforcement efforts, establish a multi-department joint supervision mechanism, clarify the division of responsibilities of each department, increase law enforcement efforts, investigate and punish release behaviors that violate laws and regulations, publicly expose typical cases, and create an effective deterrent.