Leader of International Wildlife Trade Ring Receives Jail Sentence of 6 Years…Say What?

Shifei Li, the owner of an antiques business in China has been sentenced to SIX years in jail after admitting to being the head of an international wildlife smuggling ring. Li smuggled $4.5 million of rhino horns and elephant ivory between the United States and China and only gets six years in prison…I won’t even be 30 by the time he gets out! Does anyone else think this is a little insane?

The penalty for smuggling ANY substance into the United States extend to a sentence of up to 20 years, so giving him a quarter of the potential penalty just seems fair…you know given he only smuggled some 30-odd rhino horns and a handful or so of elephant tusks.

Not only that, but Li plead guilty to 11 counts of conspiracy, smuggling, illegal wildlife trafficking, and faking documents – meaning there were probably many more counts against him, these were just the 11 he finagled into a plea deal.

The U.S. Department of Justice calls the sentence “one of the longest to be imposed in the United States for a wildlife smuggling crime.”

Nearly 50,000 elephants are slaughtered EVERY year and a six year sentence is the longest penalty any wildlife smuggler has seen. This seems a lot less like justice and more like a little slap on the wrist.

The international legal system is really only just beginning to prosecute crimes against wildlife, the UK police have only been responsible for recording crimes for a few months and the many countries have put on large symbolic ivory crushes–all actions that have been made to “send a message” that wildlife trafficking will not be tolerated. But in my mind six years doesn’t send the message that this is a crime not to be tolerated, it’s more like “eh, just don’t get caught next time.”

In addition to his sentence Li had to forfeit “$3.5 million in proceeds of his criminal activity as well as several Asian artifacts.”

So, at least when Li gets out he will still have a cool one million dollars waiting for him on the other side. Way to go U.S. government! You sure told him…

Image source:Alanscottwalker/Wikimedia Commons