Reforming animal releases with respect
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Discussion keeps the world turning. This is Roundtable. You're listening to Roundtable. I'm Niu Honglin, joined by Steve and Yunqi. Coming up soon, free the fish, save your soul, right? Not if it wrecks the ecosystem. China's cracking down on chaotic animal release rituals. We will talk about why and how. Before that...

What happens when good intentions lead to bad outcomes? That is the dilemma facing China's traditional animal release practice, fang sheng. Once rooted in spiritual mercy, it can be a threat to native species, public safety, and even the animals themselves. Late June, China unveils tough new rules. Well, we can talk about what they mean and exactly what rules are we talking about.

Yeah, these are new guidelines to strengthen the oversight related to animal release activities to curb illegal activities, illegal practices.

that could really threaten biodiversity and public health. So they called on local authorities under the three agencies. Those would be the National Forestry and Grasslands Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the National Religious Affairs Administration. They called on those three agencies to conduct thorough investigations to determine what species have been released in their jurisdictions,

how often these types of things have been happening, and then local customs involving animal release. The authorities, they were also told to evaluate the survival status of non-native species already released, the ones that were already in the environment, along with their ecological impact and then potential epidemic risks to the surrounding areas.

They also said that efforts should be made to remove both deceased and living alien species to reduce, again, the risks of biological invasion and disease transmission. There will not be, and this is an important point, there will not be a blanket pandemic

on animal release around the country where the practice has been longstanding. It's a tradition, right? And I want to talk about that because this was brand new information for me. I'd never heard of this before. But in the parts of the country where this has been traditioned,

Activities may continue, but they can only do it after proper assessments are carried out to determine eligible species and appropriate locations. But please educate me and the rest of our audience who might not know. Fangsheng, is that how you say it? Yep. And it's interesting that Steve mentioned that even the National Religious Affairs Administration is also involved in curbing this illegal or inappropriate practice.

Because this word, fang sheng, if you know Chinese, so this word actually originated from Buddhism that there has been the release of animals, particularly birds and fish, into their natural environment. And this kind of act was...

considered that demonstrates pity and respect for life. So this word, fang shen, often kind of just gives people a vibe of being compassionate. And that might encourage people to...

continue these practices without realizing that this kind of practice could endanger the biodiversity and bringing an invading species that's not supposed to be there. So fang sheng means releasing life, kind of?

Yeah, kind of, because fang carries the meaning of release, and sheng, you can understand it as a living thing, so you set it free, or you can understand it as have it continue its life, because mostly when people conduct the fang sheng practice, they would purchase animals from markets, often ones destined for slaughter or for sale, meaning that the sheng element in their life, the continue to live element, is soon to be deceased, to be stopped,

stopped. And then these people would perform a blessing or prayer ritual and then release them into rivers, lakes, forests, or other natural settings, meaning that we are stopping you from being bought by people who are going to put you on a dinner table. We are giving you the precious opportunity, the great gift, the best gift that is your

That's the idea to the animal. And if this is a Buddhist tradition, this has been around for a couple of thousand years? Yes, really long time. When people want to have some good behavior, benevolent behavior for years,

different reasons they might practice this action this fang sheng action yet it has consequences so in the Buddhist tradition this will be my last question about that part what types of animals are we typically talking about birds fish turtle frog typical animals

in general. But we have to admit that while we are looking at the tradition evolving and growing and happening in different places, we definitely would see some exotic animals, some unusual animals being the object of the feng shun behavior and resulting in different problems. Yeah, those would be like

exotic animals, I suppose. Yeah, I think when this word was first invented, people didn't really categorize it that we have to release these lives and that will only account as a function. I think when this word was originated from Buddhist practices, it's usually the, I would say it's probably a large part, a large group of them are livestock.

because they were supposed to be slaughtered or served for human consumption. But then some people decided to give their life a second chance. And that gives people, that comes with a sense of pity and respect for life. Yes. And in today's world, well, we see that a

According to, for instance, different news organizations, we see the modern commercialization of practice has led to massive release of non-native species into the wild, threatening the ecological balance. No longer just livestock. Yeah, so now I get it. And there's a good part to this, right? There's actually a really beautiful part to this because it's about releasing life back into nature

the planet back into nature. And then the other positive thing could be, this could help with population recovery. It can help maintain biodiversity. It's the right species. Yeah. Well, that's the thing, right? It has to be the right species because if not, then you're talking about things that could really, really go wrong, right? If you introduce alien species into an, uh, an ecological balance, uh,

that is where that species is not supposed to be, there are a plethora of problems that could come with that. That species could be eating the food, right, that the other species that live there are supposed to eat, which could lead to a decrease or a lack of life of that species. I mean, I could go on and on. Yeah, there's a lot of problems there with that.

with that. Yeah, back in 2020 there was actually a Chinese man surnamed Xu that released 12,500 kilograms of sharp-toothed catfish. And it's not a type of... Where do you get 12,500 kilograms of anything?

Most likely he or she purchased those animals from markets that was meant for human consumption. And it's not a type of common animal names that you normally hear. And so by releasing those 12,500 kilograms of sharp-toothed catfish in this lake called Changdan in eastern Jiangsu province. And so these caused...

massive aggression, predation to the local native fish populations and that resulted in the loss of 90,000 yuan for cleanup and to just to clean up the mess that this lady or guy, Mr. or Ms. Xu that

caused and he or she, this man named Shu, he was the first public interest lawsuit against illegal invasive species release. It's a very classic lawsuit and people living in this place or staff around or with the lake had to go get the fish out so that it does not continue to harm the ecosystem in the lake.

And there are other bad influences as well. We see that unethical vendors would exploit demand by only trafficking invasive species from alligator guards to Florida soft-shell turtles and defusing a destructive cycle of release, recapture, and resale for profit. And

Well, for China, this is not something that's new. When I say this, I mean the law to make sure that people's feng shun activity, the release to nature activity is conducted in a better and more regulated way. In 2016, there has been reports talking about China's amendment to its wildlife protection law.

that would regulate the practice of feng sheng and the amendment which took effect in 2017 stated that the arbitrary release of wild animals if causing damage to humans or property or harm to the ecosystem shall bear legal responsibility.

And China is also not the only country facing the issue. We see in the United Kingdom, releasing animals without permission can be illegal under wildlife protection. In the United States, releases are regulated under state wildlife laws in different states.

in the European Union, their regulation is strict release of invasive species. It's definitely not okay. Yeah, and there's real-life examples of this.

the European rabbit, which looks so cute and so innocent, is a huge problem for Australia. It got introduced there in the late 1800s, and now there's about 200 million feral rabbits that live in Australia. And the numbers became so large that

They started destroying crops and land, leading to soil erosion. I did a little bit of a deep dive on these rabbits. They can adapt really, really well. They don't need much. They just need a hole where they can burrow, and they can live on just short grass. So they're survival experts. Yeah, they are survival experts, and they really like

to, how shall I say, make other baby rabbits, and they're good at it. Reproductive. So it's become quite the problem, and ongoing as far as I read. So what can we do next? For those who do still want to practice the

benevolent act of saving certain lives. I mean, it matters to that little rabbit, perhaps, if you're releasing it to the right place. So how can we guarantee that for people who want to continue practicing feng sheng, they can do it in the right way? Yeah, responsibly, right? Responsibly. Yeah, I don't think eliminating the practice is the right thing to do, right? Because it's a tradition that's been around for decades.

thousands of years and the heart is in the right place. So when it's done responsibly, we talked about the advantages that it can provide when it's done responsibly. So having authorities, local authorities, institutions in place where people can go and check first, am I doing something that's good for the environment here? And then you can keep the tradition in a healthy way that's good for everyone.

And in different places, there are also high-tech-y ways to regulate. No, don't say AI. Can we have one conversation that doesn't involve AI? No, just civilian cameras making sure that if something wrong happened in a lake, we would have a quick response so that the harm done to the local small environment or ecosystem would find a better way or easier to be mitigated. Actually, I think AI could do a good job with that.

finding all the solutions in AI. But just on top of like, having these releases of lives in a more planned way, some Buddhist and environmental groups are also encouraging more symbolic releases. So instead of actually purchasing maybe an exotic species and then release to the local environment, people are encouraged to sponsor

let's say, animals or rescued animals in the animal rescue groups. And so you're claiming ownership of an animal that's kind of endangered. And there are other similar practices, for example, like on Douyin, TikTok, Chinese TikTok,

Chinese TikTok doing, then there are people that are claiming a cat ownership by watching and donating to the cat accounts online. They watch just cats live streaming and they claim ownership. That's not the same though, is it? No, it's different, but I get the gist. Yeah, I get the gist as well. I don't think it replaces the tradition. What was the response from the community from,

when they made that suggestion, I wonder if that was received. Maybe you don't know. I apologize for asking, but I wonder if they received that well, or if they thought, no, that's not, that's not something that will, this isn't a replaceable thing.

For those who hold the belief, I don't think it's the same thing for them, which is why maybe for certain religious groups, we see that some Buddhist and environmental groups now discourage traditional feng shou. They promote what Yunxi has mentioned. As an example, they promote symbolic releases, sponsorships, ritual adoptions, and also donations to animal rescue groups.

So instead of releasing an animal or releasing, I don't know, 12,000 kilograms of fish into a lake, you might be able to donate the amount of money to wildlife because certain wildlife, we've talked about this,

one a wildlife, a vulture or another kind of bird or animal, when you take them in and take care of them, you do need to release them back to their original environment. It's essential to the species, to the DNA, to the entire group. So for

this type of animal, they do need different facilities and different places to take care of the animal and then release them back to nature. So maybe donate for those kind of groups so that you are a part of a better release and you do not harm the environment. I was just thinking about that day when that person went to the fish market.

Hey, can I get a catfish? Oh, just one? No. 12,000 kilograms. 500 grams. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have that? And why did they have that? Who has that in stock? I have so many questions about that situation. And that situation or that question is not the only question we ask about this particular case because there are criminal gangs we talked about.

this already, they would purchase exotic animals because for some extreme believers, by saying extreme, I mean that they believe the feng sheng idea in a wrong way. That is the more precious the animal is, the better or the better kind of credit. The more valuable it is. Yes, yes. I am gaining by doing so. And for those people, definitely they're...

good heart is exploit by different gang groups. And if we're talking about the capture, sold and release and recapture, that is just really harmful for these animals as well. There are international programs too, if you're interested, where you can sponsor an animal and

that's outside of the country. Uh, you can donate money and you can download an app onto your phone where you'll be able to track the animal that you have been assigned to. Right. So you can make it, I can imagine implementing this in, in classrooms, um, where you get an opportunity to track the animal and see where it has been, where it's going. You could, um,

incorporate education about that particular species as well. So if you introduce that on an educational level, that might help out.

with this type of situation and making sure people don't do that type of situation improperly in the future. And I'm not really sure if it's due to the situation today, but in about 20 years ago, if you were traveling around Australia and you can take a kangaroo with you to have the kangaroo see the world and then return the kangaroo to another zoo. Yes. So helping the animal, it's

kind of like animal welfare in a different way. Help the animals see the world. Does the kangaroo really need to see the world? I have no idea. Like an actual kangaroo? An actual kangaroo. But I think here what we want to say is that they say let it go brings peace. But when it's 500 or 12,000 people

vicious snakes or catfish, maybe keep that inner peace to yourself. You're listening to Roundtable and hopefully we will see you next time. It's Niu Honglin, Yunqi and Steve Heatherly. Bye-bye.