Discover the fascinating practice of Life Release, where people save the lives of animals that would otherwise be killed. Explore the environmental concerns and ethical questions surrounding this ancient Buddhist tradition and decide for yourself if the punishment was fair.

Imagine that you are sitting by the seaside one sunny afternoon. The sun shines warmly on your face. In the distance, you see a group of happy people carrying boxes onto a boat. You watch them carefully as they sail a few metres out into the sea. It does not take them long. They stop, open the boxes, and tip the contents over the side of the boat. To your amazement, you can see that the boxes contained large crabs and lobsters. They all look alive as they are released into the sea.

This was the story a British courtroom heard recently when two people, Mr Zhiiong Li and Mrs Ni Li, were charged with wildlife offences. Both are Buddhists and they were taking part in what is called a Life Release activity. This is the Buddhist practice of saving the lives of animals that would otherwise have been killed.

Life Release first began in India and China hundreds of years ago. In China, it is called Fang Sheng. Life Release only used to happen on special days. However, as people have become wealthier, the practice has become more frequent. In fact, Mr and Mrs Li spent about HK$25,000 buying 350 crabs and 361 lobsters from a local fish market.

The real problem was that the released crabs and lobsters were not from England but from America. They were likely to attack and kill the local crabs and lobsters that grew in the area. Officials said that this could lead to an environmental disaster.

There are reports from around the world that Life Release is being practised regularly today. According to the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan, over 200 million animals, ranging from insects to monkeys, were released in just one year. The Beijing Fang Sheng Association released 15 million animals in China in one year.

It was not a happy ending for most of the American crabs and lobsters released by Mr and Mrs Li. Thousands of dollars were spent trying to recapture them all. Surprisingly, they were quite successful. It was discovered that many of the lobsters carried eggs. If they had not been recaptured, there may have been thousands of more lobsters feeding off the local lobster population.

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Watch Life Release in action in Hong Kong

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