WILDLEX

In October of the lunar calendar in 2014, Yibing H. purchased a dead body of black bear from others, and then commissioned Fatian D. to sell it. In the first half of 2016, Faguo D. and Fatian D. negotiated to do a wildlife business together. Fatian D. was responsible for purchase and sale. Faguo D.

In June 2016, Bicheng C. retrieved the four steel wire sleeves found when he was collecting medicine on the mountain, and placed them in the woods of the back mountain for hunting wild animals. In July of the same year, Bicheng C. discovered that the previously placed steel wire sleeve had captured a black bear and it was dead.

On the evening of May 2, 2018, Bin C. and Zedong Y. conspired to go to Liyang River in Fuling District to fish with electricity. At about 21:00, Bin C. and Chaoyong S. (handled separately) took a car driven by Zedong Y. to Liyuan River. Zedong Y.

At the heart of this matter were the customary rights to marine resources. The appellants were tried at the Magistrate court and later appealed to the High Court in Mthatha. The Hight Court, however, held that their conduct was unlawful because they had not applied for an exemption as contemplated in the MLRA, granting them a permit to fish.

The court held that the appellants were protecting the lives of the cubs and as well as their legal interest in the survical of the cubs as the owners of the very expensive animals.

The appellant was found to have been complicit in the transaction where a fake rhino horn was sold in a police trap for R350 000. He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. The appellant unsuccessfully appealed to the Free State High Court against his conviction and sentence.