A man who tried to bring 1,760 red-eared sliders into China has been sentenced to nine months in prison, the first criminal sentence handed down by Chinese courts for illegally introducing invasive species.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Zhuhai, a mainland Chinese city bordering Macao, also punished the offender, surnamed Yi and a repeat offender, with a sentence of Fine of 100,000 yuan (12,700 euros)according to the ruling.
The convicted man attempted, in October 2022, Smuggling of turtles from the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong to China by land without declaring the shipment to customs authorities, who discovered them in a hidden compartment when they searched the interior of the car.
Toward turtles, valued at around 88,000 yuan (11,170 euros) and have been confiscated are classified as foreign invasive species under Chinese law.
The species is native to the southern United States and northeastern Mexico and is also known as the Florida turtle.
Source: Observadora
