The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict against three firefighters and a fisherman in Penghu County who were convicted of poaching three turtles that were listed as protected species.
The four had previously been found guilty of killing green sea turtles in breach of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法).
Fisherman Hu Chen-che (胡振哲) had appealed the ruling, which eventually wound up at the Supreme Court.
In yesterday’s decision, the court handed down suspended sentences of 14 months against the three firefighters and put them on probation.
The court also upheld the previous ruling sentencing Hu to one year in prison, because he had a prior conviction for catching fish illegally by using electric shock equipment.
Hu was found to have poached the turtles with a spear gun.
The case originated in May last year, when the three firefighters, deputy captain Wang Ming-hsien (王明賢), Cheng Jung-chun (程榮俊) and Chen Fu-jung (陳福榮), who were stationed on the county’s Jibei Islet (吉貝嶼), wanted to eat green sea turtle.
They contacted Hu and asked him to catch green sea turtles for them, and agreed to pay NT$3,000 per live turtle.
Hu then caught three turtles, butchered two of them and sent them in a box via a local transport boat to the fire station.
The incident was discovered when a local resident saw the firefighters cooking the turtle meat in the fire station’s backyard, took photographs showing turtle shells on the ground and posted them online with the message: “Does turtle meat taste good?”
Hu released the third turtle after the incident came to light.
The incident caused a public outcry due to the animals’ conservation status.
In the first ruling, Wang and Chen pleaded guilty and were given suspended sentences of 14 months, fined NT$240,000 each, and ordered to provide 120 hours of community service.
Hu was sentenced to one year in prison and Cheng to 16 months. The two appealed the ruling, seeking more lenient terms.
A local court said the firefighters are government employees and therefore knew that the turtles were important in the promotion of tourism in Penghu and that they were protected.
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