A criminal case in which a man from Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, was sentenced to five years in prison for raising and selling endangered birds has become a source of conflict between pet lovers and animal activists, local newspaper Southern Metropolitan Daily reported on Friday.

In addition to the jail sentence, 32-year-old Wang Peng was fined 3,000 yuan ($430) in March for selling two green-cheeked parakeets and for being in possession of another 45 endangered passerines, all of which are Class II protected species under China’s wildlife protection law. Transporting and trading these animals are strictly prohibited and may result in relatively lengthy prison terms.

“He had no knowledge that these parrots were endangered species,” said Ren Panpan, Wang’s wife, who worked in a factory with her husband. She said Wang sold six birds in 2016 because he wanted to earn some money for medical treatment for their daughter, who was ill at the time. Two were green-cheeked parakeets and four were birds of another species, but Wang sold all six for 500 yuan each.

According to Ren, Wang started raising his first parrot, an unknown species found near the factory by one of their colleagues, in 2014. Wang later bought the green-cheeked parakeets on the internet, and the two birds successfully reproduced. Later, the couples’ friends sent them more birds, and Wang purchased another protected species online.

When police arrested Wang in 2016, they found three species of endangered birds in his house and 45 birds in total. In a court verdict seen by Sixth Tone, a judge ruled that the birds were “ready for sale,” meaning Wang was guilty of attempting to commit a crime.

However, Wang’s wife denies that her husband intended to sell the birds and insists that the punishment is too harsh. “He was obsessed with raising the birds, the same way he was with online games,” said Ren. “That’s just his personality.”

Animal activists, however, say the heavy sentence serves Wang right. He Xin, a researcher at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, told Sixth Tone that selling endangered birds is and should be strictly prohibited. “Intention should not be taken into account when judging these cases,” he said.

Xu Xin, the lawyer who took up Wang’s case after the verdict was announced, told Sixth Tone that Wang will plead not guilty if he is granted a second trial. In drafting an appeal, Xu said he argued that the parrots bred in captivity by Wang do not qualify as “wildlife,” and thus should not be considered protected animals.

Some users on microblog platform Weibo have expressed sympathy for Wang. “Ordinary people don’t have knowledge [about these species],” wrote one user. “For the first offense, they should just be criticized and educated. It’s not like he killed them! [The verdict] went too far.”

Other users, meanwhile, were more skeptical of Wang’s story: “My only question is where did the first protected parrot come from? Was it caught or bought? It’s not like it appeared out of thin air.”

The researcher He explained that the government has never issued licenses to individuals to raise wild animals. “Most rare parrots are smuggled from overseas,” he said. “If you trace the process back to its origin, it’s all illegal from the beginning.” He also said that raising the birds in a healthy environment is not equivalent to protecting the species, and that it still harms the environment. Regardless of intention, He said, Wang had become caught up in the chain of trading of these precious species and must pay the penalty.

Wang and his lawyer are currently waiting to hear whether their appeal will be accepted.

Clarification: This story was originally sourced from a report by Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily.

Editor: David Paulk.

(Header image: A pet cockatiel with a chain around its talon perches on a branch in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, March 20, 2016. Su Yang/VCG)