China mulls regulating release of captive animals

BEIJING -- A revised draft of China's Wild Animal Protection Law submitted for a third reading on Monday regulates the release of captive animals to the wild.

Authorities at provincial level and above can organize activities involving the release of state-protected animals to the wild, according to the draft submitted to a bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which runs from Monday to Saturday.

Any organization or individual releasing captive animals should choose indigenous species that are fit to survive in the wild, and the release should have no impact upon local people or harm the ecosystem, the draft said.

Anyone who frees captive animals in a reckless manner and thus causes property damage or physical injury to others, or jeopardizes the ecosystem, will be held accountable.

The draft also provided that agencies involved in this area should, in accordance with law, disclose information regarding the issuance of documents used for the hunting, captive breeding, sale, purchase and use of protected wild animals.

The new draft "has improved the country's wild animal protection and regulation systems, properly managed the relationship between protection and utilization, balanced views of all parties and addressed public concerns," the NPC Law Committee said in a review report, suggesting the draft be put to a vote at this session.

The Wild Animal Protection Law was passed in 1988 and took effect the following year.