Public opinion is not the law

The lack of wildlife protection awareness among ordinary people has been revealed by people's online expressions of anger at the sentence handed down to a university student in Henan province, Central China. The student was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for capturing and selling endangered falcon chicks.

Many people have expressed outrage at what they consider the excessive term of imprisonment, and they have denounced the penalty as cherishing animals more than humans.

Some have doubted the fairness of such a long sentence for what they judge to be a "minor offense", especially since it is harsher than the punishments handed down for rape, drunk driving and other crimes.