| Wild animals have great value in ecological and economic areas and scientific research. They serve as an important link of the ecosystem and provide abundant raw materials for various industries, for which they have incomparable scientific value. With advantageous natural conditions, China is among those countries with very rich wildlife resources. However, in recent years, due to damage and immoderate exploitation of wild animals and their habitats by Chinese people, many species are endangered and at the edge of extinction. In view of value of wild animals and the severe current situation of protection effort, we should sort out legislation on protection of wild animals in an all-round way at this stage and find out any loopholes in laws in order to further complete the legal protection mechanism, which is not only necessary in reality but also required by fulfillment of China’s international obligations.In this paper, composition of the legal system for protection of wild animals currently in China is introduced, such as ownership system, layered and categorized management system, habitat conservation system, damage compensation system, license system, etc. The legal system centered on Wild Animal Protection Law is analyzed and evaluated. Some achievements were made by this country in legal protection of wild animals; however, it has been over 20 years since enactment of Wild Animal Protection Law and very few amendments were made during this period, so many provisions can no longer meet actual needs, which are reflected in the following aspects: Backward protection concepts, narrow scope of protection, unreasonable damage compensation system and ownership system of wild animals, no legal provision on abuse and consumption of wild animals, defects in law enforcement and public participation, etc. These problems make amendments to the law become extremely urgent.Meanwhile, legislation and practice of legal protection of wild animals in other countries are also discussed in this paper. Legislation on wild animal protection in western countries started early and has a relatively complete system, in addition to which people in these countries have deeply rooted awareness of wild animal protection. Legal systems of the US, Japan, Germany and other countries may provide experiences for China in legal protection of wild animals.Based on experiences of other countries and current conditions in China, basic principles required to be followed in protection of wild animals are put forward in this paper, including: Equality of species, ecology as priority and rational use. At the same time, based on problems existing in Wild Animal Protection Law, the following suggestions on amendments to the law are put forward from aspects of local and national legislation for the purpose of further complete legal protection system for wild animals: Extend scope of legal protection; change the single ownership system of wild animals; improve habitats, damage compensation and domestication and reproduction system; add provisions on prohibition of abuse, injury or excessive consumption of wild animals. Furthermore, law enforcement level should be improved in order to guarantee implementation of relevant laws. The general public should be encouraged to engage in protection of wild animals, and a good situation characterized by involvement, supervision and protection conducted by everyone should be created.During preparation of this paper, efforts were made to create a protection system covering three aspects including legislation, law enforcement and observation of law. As for research method, importance is also attached to combination of theory and practice and learning of excellent experiences of China and other countries in wild animal protection for the purpose of putting forward reasonable suggestions on improvement of China’s legal system of wild animal protection. It is a comfort to see that in view of problems existing in Wild Animal Protection Law, draft suggestions on amendments to Wild Animal Protection Law prepared by experts were unveiled in 2014, which highlighted the focus on welfare of wild animals. This paper includes some relevant discussions base on expert opinions in the draft suggestions. It is expected that breakthrough development will definitely be realized in legislation on wild animal protection in China with increasing attention being paid to protection of wild animals. |
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