China has committed to develop an ecological civilization and recently taken significant steps to enhance conservation measures including updating the List of National Key Protected Wild Animals and revising the Wildlife Protection Law in 20211. Conservation has improved by increasing the number of protected species. However, a notable shortcoming undermines the effectiveness of protection for as many as 87 species, as the regulation applies only to wild and not to captive individuals (Figure 1 and Table S1). Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs similarly regulates 230 CITES-listed aquatic species, most of which are non-native species to China (Notice No. 491). Given the challenges differentiating wild and captive individuals, these regulation changes allow and incentivize the laundering of wild-caught animals as captive-bred in trade. The impacts of these regulation amendments on conservation are substantial for two reasons. First, China has one of the world’s largest wildlife trades, with a high volume of native and non-native animals traded and farmed2,3. Second, many of the species affected are globally threatened, including 51% of native and 63% of CITES-listed aquatic species (Figure 1). Ultimately, the regulation changes exacerbate population declines of many threatened species.