How to Manage the Improper Freeing of Animals?

To make the conception clear： protection is based on respect

The focus of freeing captive animals is not "freeing"， but "keeping animals alive". The important part of freeing captive animals does not lay on the kindness of the releasers， or the goodwill of their starting points， but on whether it guarantees the safety of the released animals and the releasing location or not. The freeing fails to do it will lead to consequences only. Thus， it is necessary for releasers and their opponents to make the conception clear at first， to know the aim of animal freeing， and to take action under such principle.

Kant believed that the animal was a tool and human was the goal. On several core points， mainstream views of China and that of the West are quite consistent. For example， we affirm the central and dominative position of human， and believe that animals and plants can be used as tools for human. But it does not mean that people can treat animals wantonly， or decide everything for animals. Throwing tortoise into the sea and placing the domestic catfish in the wild are definitely a sort of abuse， which have no big difference than putting them in a pot on the stove， judged from the result.

Freeing captive animals is to protect them. There is no protection without respect， which is the same for animals and human.

Releasing a box of snakes in the park is disrespect to visitors. Releasing hundreds of foxes to the mountain is the disrespect to the natives. Releasing animals at the places which is convenient for the releaser to reach while difficult for the animals to survive is disrespect for life. Such disrespect is difficult to be understood as the compassion for animals.

Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. Scholar Xiao Han made it as this： do not impose what your desire on others. How human treat animals is the result of combination between rational reflection and traditional evolution. However， whether it is scientific and rational， whether it is what animals desire is still to be verified. Respect is between humans and animal， and also between humans themselves. Freeing captive animals randomly without knowing the situation is disrespect for animals， while not freeing dangerous animals to the villages with people living in is the respect for humans.

Without respect， how can we talk about protection， and even mercy？

Legal supervision： legislative enforcement is equally important

As early as in 1822， the Humanist of British Parliament， Charles Martin’s "Act of Prohibiting Abuse of Animals" was adopted by the British Parliament successfully. And Martin’s Act is the first act of human against arbitrary animal abuse in history， as a milestone in the history of relations between humans and animals. After that， France， Ireland， Germany， Austria， Belgium， the Netherlands and other European countries have also formulated related bills. Currently， more than one hundred countries in the world have developed Act of Prohibiting Abuse of Animals and the value of animal lives have gradually been recognized by the law.

However， Chinese has only Law on the Protection of Wild Animals， and still have far to go before formulating the Law of Prohibiting Abuse of Animals.

Regulations for the Implementation of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Terrestrial Wildlife was approved， promulgated and implemented by the State Council in 1992. Its fourth chapter of Article 23 stipulates that if people want to release wildlife introduced from abroad or other provinces， autonomous regions， municipalities directly under the central government to the wild， they need to apply to administrative department in charge of forestry of the provinces， autonomous regions， municipalities directly under the central government. After being scientifically proved by the specified research institutions designated by the provincial-level Forestry Administration Department of the people’s government and approved by forestry administrative departments of the State Council or its authorized unit. If the wild animals are freed to the wild or escape to the wild due to improper management， administrative department of wildlife have the right to order the releaser to capture them or take other remedial measures.

However， the regulations did not to have specific provisions in the terms of details such as releaser and released animals， and penalties and punishments are not mentioned.

In addition to Law on the Protection of Wild Animals， and some detailed legal provisions have made provisions for some industries in terms of freeing animals， for example， Provisions for the Management of Aquatic Biological Proliferation stipulates that the aquatic biological species， including foreign species， which do not meet the ecological requirements is prohibited to be released. Among them， the red eared turtle of Brazil has been classified as dangerous invasive foreign species， so Brazilian turtle can only be domesticated but not be released.

However， these legal provisions are rare to people.

In recent years， with the continuous improvement of people’s awareness of animal protection， the phenomena of animal freeing has been increasing， and the problems caused by it are emerging. In this case， completing relevant laws and regulations is particularly important. The current law lacks provisions in term of freeing animals， including qualification of freeing， application of freeing， qualification review， process supervision， environmental protection， follow-up evaluation and punishment for violations. In addition， each region should also formulate provisions for managing the animal freeing which are in line with local ecological systems， including the biological species allowed and forbidden to release in the local places， the specific freeing procedures and the supervision and coordination mechanism and so on.

In addition， the implementation of provisions for freeing animals is equally important as supervision. It is to ensure that laws and regulations can be implemented， and animal freeing could be orderly and normative from the legislative perspective.

Scientific publicity： correct publicity and guidance

Ultimately， the problems of animal freeing are caused by the deviation of awareness and short board of knowledge， as for this， in addition to the provisions of law and the rules of organizations of animal freeing， correct publicity and guidance also plays an unelectable role.

Many people have realized the consequences caused by freeing animals blindly， and can also point out someone else’s improper behavior of freeing animals in certain circumstances. However， when it comes to the detailed aspects of freeing activities， not much is known. Many accidents have also shown the short board of the knowledge of the releasers is a major factor leading to the blind freeing of animals.

In view of this， expertise is particularly important， not only in the knowledge of freeing animals， the requirements of animal freeing （not ritual requirements） and all kinds of knowledge， such as living habits of animals and living environment should be popularized. It requires comprehensive publicity with great force， from multi angles and in multi ways. The content of student textbooks and promotional materials about how poor the endangered animals are could be added to some practical content if appropriate， to teach children how to give a hand to little animals in need correctly. Otherwise it will be like only telling people that the sick people need relief， but not telling people how to implement effective emergency rescue， and it could only make the number of people who do bad deed with goodwill.

The popularization of knowledge has far to go.

The absence of relevant laws for freeing animals and the inadequate law enforcement is the reality， however， there are existing provisions for animal freeing， but in many accidents of animal freeing people argue that "there is no such rules"， and the inadequacy of legal publicity can be seen. It also leads to the ineffectiveness of the relevant content of Law on the Protection of Wild Animals.

China’s wild animal protection department has once appealed to the media that average people or groups who carry out wildlife releasing activities out of good intentions must be in accordance with the relevant provisions， actively communicate with the departments in charge of forestry， study and formulate scientific release scheme， or give the wild animals to the specific rescuing institutions designated by the competent departments of forestry for rescue or freeing to nature .

However， at present， such publicity is still not enough.

Accidents of animal freeing happens frequently and many related news are released. It should be taken as an opportunity to publicize and guide scientific freeing of animals， strengthen the publicity of relevant laws and regulations， guide the releasers to do the freeing under the guidance of professionals and eliminate improper freeing. At the same time， illegal actions of capturing， trafficking and selling wild animals should be combated. Perhaps it can help animal freeing to go on the right track fast.