China enhances wildlife protection as law takes effect

BEIJING -- China's revised Law on the Protection of Wildlife, adopted by the top legislature in December last year, went into effect Monday, as part of the country's effort to better protect wildlife and their habitats.

The revised law has refined measures for the regulation of wildlife populations in detail.

In view of the situation in which wild animals overflow and threaten people's property and safety, as well as the productivity of agriculture and animal husbandry, the law stipulates that isolation and protection facilities, together with safety warning signs, should be built in light of the actual situation.

It also broadens the scope of national subsidies for losses caused by wild animals, expanding it from wildlife under state protection to terrestrial wildlife that cause serious damage.

The existing law on wildlife protection was formulated in 1988, and the revision is the first overhaul since a 2016 revision.

Also on Monday, an array of measures for the quarantine of wild animals came into effect. Building on the clarification of the scope of quarantine, the measures stipulate that the relevant systems should be fine-tuned in good time, according to the actual situation, with efforts to improve the technical support system and strengthen inter-departmental cooperation.