Everyone's gazes were somewhat strange.
"You just said you got this from a fellow villager, and now you're denying it!"
Fang Ye spread his hands, "As far as I know, it's not legal to breed Asian forest tortoises in our country. Do you have a certificate for the ones you claim are bred?"
Abroad, they differentiate between WC (Wild Caught) and CB (Captive Bred), but as for breeding Asian forest tortoises domestically, it's always been a mystery, with no clear regulations. Sometimes it's allowed, and at other times it's not. At least before I time-traveled, all Asian forest tortoises in our country, regardless of whether they were bred or not, were protected animals.
The default assumption should be that it's not allowed!
The dark-skinned store manager was choked up and couldn't speak!
The three thousand yuan spent on purchasing, plus the ten thousand yuan intended for the sale—it all added up to a profit of thirteen thousand yuan. Round that up, and it's practically a billion. If what this young man is saying is true, wouldn't it mean surrendering it all to the police, which is somewhat hard to let go of?
So, subconsciously, he stood up to argue, but as soon as he did, he began to regret it, his face changing colors constantly!
"Those who illegally capture, kill, purchase, transport, or sell national key protected precious and endangered wild animals and their products shall be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention and shall also be fined; in serious cases, they shall be sentenced to not less than five years but not more than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment and shall also be fined; and in particularly serious cases, to not less than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment and shall also be fined or have their properties confiscated." Fang Ye smiled and added another stab.
Last time he consulted with Old Wang, he was briefed on the legal provisions in this area. He remembered the text by heart and recited it, and today it came in handy.
The Asian forest tortoise went from a treasure to a bomb. The bracelet guy, frightened, swallowed his saliva and hurriedly waved at the dark-skinned store owner, "Boss, I don't want this tortoise anymore."
The dark-skinned store owner's chest heaved and with teeth clenched, he glared at Fang Ye, fuming with anger! If Fang Ye hadn't meddled, he would have made the sale by now, even pretending it was just a regular tortoise. But now, pretending he didn't know wasn't an option anymore!
The onlookers expressed their amazement one after another, finding today's drama quite fascinating, and urged, "Boss, the young man is right. It's not worth going to jail over a few thousand yuan. Better call the police and hand over the tortoise."
"I've certainly learned something today. I always thought all tortoises lived in the water; I never knew there were such oddities like land tortoises."
Someone curiously asked, "What do you do, young man? You speak so confidently; pretty impressive."
The bystanders, imagining that scenario, couldn't help but get goosebumps!
"Damn, that's disgusting!"
"Director, stop it! I feel like throwing up my breakfast!"
"Good thing I've never eaten wild game!"
After a short while, the police arrived, two people he knew— the young man in the white shirt and the red-dressed woman who had visited the Linhai Zoo with Old Wang before.
They had already asked their superiors, and the Asian forest tortoise could be directly taken back to Linhai Zoo by Fang Ye! Afterwards, they would just have to file a report with the forestry department and other relevant authorities.
Actually, when the police come across smuggled or injured wild animals during their investigations, they are usually handed over to local zoos or animal rescue stations. However, Linhai Zoo had been too inadequate before, as they couldn't even take proper care of their own animals, so the protected animals rescued in Linhai City had been transferred to relevant organizations in nearby cities.
On the way there, it was just Meng Shi and Fang Ye in the van, but on the return trip, they were accompanied by an Asian forest tortoise, five pounds of crawfish, two pounds of ribs, and two pig's trotters.
Meng Shi held Tortoise on his lap and curiously touched its shell, asking Fang Ye for advice, "Director, you said this is an Asian forest tortoise, could you tell me about it?"
Driving leisurely, Fang Ye replied, "There are eight major species of tortoises in the world. The largest is the Galapagos giant tortoise, with adult tortoises reaching 1.5 meters in length and weighing up to 400 kilograms! The Asian forest tortoise ranks fifth and is the largest tortoise in Asia! Full-grown, they can exceed 50 centimeters and weigh as much as 45 kilograms.
They are second in size only to the sulcata tortoise among mainland tortoises.
In our country, there is the mythical story of the Black Tortoise, which is depicted as a hybrid of a tortoise and a serpent, and with the Asian forest tortoise's dark shell and snake-like scales on its limbs, doesn't it resemble the Black Tortoise? Because of the huge nodular scales on its thighs, it is sometimes called the 'six-legged tortoise.'
The Asian forest tortoise lives in the tropics! It enjoys a warm and humid climate, so it usually resides near streams or water sources, avoiding the high temperatures during the day and is active for foraging during the cool of the morning and evening. It has a varied diet, eating anything from grass to the corpses of insects."
"It's mainly found in countries in the southern part of Asia, like Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. In our country, it's only found in a few provinces bordering Myanmar. This particular one showing up in Linhai probably means someone released it into the mountains and, luckily, it survived."
As Fang Ye said this, he felt something odd. Linhai has a subtropical to tropical climate, and although the temperature isn't low in winter, there's still a difference compared to the true tropics, which should be a bit cold for an Asian forest tortoise's preferred environment.
Meng Shi didn't think too much into it, jokingly saying, "Now our zoo has both the White Tiger and the Black Tortoise. When will we get an Azure Dragon and a Vermilion Bird to complete the Four Great Divine Beasts?"