A MAN SURNAMED YIN, 34, released a cobra in Huxiang Park, Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan province, on Sunday. One day later, after the video he shared on a social media platform caught the attention of the police, Yin was summoned to the local police station and detained for five days for "disturbing public order". Legal Daily comments:

Although the police and the park's guards started looking for the poisonous snake immediately after verifying the authenticity of the video, they have not found it yet. And it is still not known how the man got the cobra in the first place.

In Buddhism, fangsheng or the release of animals, particularly birds and fish, into their natural environment demonstrates pity and respect for life. But people should make sure the animals can survive in the wild and won't cause harm to humans before releasing them. More importantly, the animals should be released into forests, lakes or rivers, not in parks.

Some people have released alien species of animals into the wild without thinking of the damage they could cause to biodiversity and the eco-system. There have been reports of people releasing alligator snapping turtles (found mostly in southern United States) in lakes and rivers in China. Such invasive species not only thrive but also threaten many native species.

Last year, some people released hundreds of foxes they had bought from fur-making factories into forested areas in the northern suburb of Beijing. Many of the foxes died of hunger within days because they couldn't hunt in the wild, and the rest started killing people's chickens and lambs for food.

The man who released the cobra in Huxiang Park obviously ignored people's safety. And if the snake bites anyone, the man should be held accountable for it, according to the Wild Animal Protection Law and the Criminal law.