Xinhua News Agency, Harbin, May 18 -
Question: how to implement reintroduction?
How to ensure the safety of both humans and tigers?
——The Siberian Tiger Returning to the Forest in the Village
Xinhua News Agency reporters Hu Lu, Wu Siyu, Zhou Yuan
At 8 o'clock in the morning on the 18th, the 61 forest group of Dongxing Forestry Farm of Muling Forestry Bureau of Heilongjiang Province.
The early summer sun dazzled the leaves, and a wild Siberian tiger also ushered in a brand new day.
The cage door opened slowly, and it was stunned for a long time before the gods tentatively walked out. After turning the tiger's body vigilantly and watching for a circle, it suddenly accelerated to the large forest in front.
The Siberian tiger is the flagship species of global biodiversity conservation, and it occupies an irreplaceable important position in maintaining the functions of a healthy ecosystem.
It has a large food demand and needs a wide range of activities. Due to the intensified human activities' impact on the habitat, the Siberian tiger wild population is scarce.
On April 23, this wild Siberian tiger suddenly broke into a village in Mishan City, Heilongjiang, where a thrilling "human-tiger encounter" occurred.
Heilongjiang Province emergency expert team rescued it on the same day.
After more than 20 days of isolation, the National Forestry and Grass Administration decided to release it into the wild.
The reporter recently went to the release site to interview experts who implemented the release and observe the release experience of this wild Siberian tiger up close.
The reintroduction of wild Siberian tigers in the wild is a technical task.
"This is the first time for my country to release wild tigers, and it is also a problem internationally." Jiang Guangshun, executive deputy director of the Cat Research Center of the National Forestry and Grass Administration and distinguished professor of Yangtze River Scholars, said that tigers are beasts, how to release them to nature In the process of achieving the safety of both humans and tigers, and trying to make tigers survive smoothly in the wild, there is a series of work to be done behind this.
Evaluating the physical condition of the Siberian tiger and scientifically judging whether it is suitable for reintroduction is the prerequisite for deciding whether to "release the tiger back to the mountain".
"We judged that this wild Siberian tiger was about 3 years old and was not fully adult. After strayed into a residential area and was frightened, it had some abnormal stress reactions." Liu Dan, Chief Engineer, China Hengdaohezi Cat Breeding Center Said that through more than 20 days of rescue and isolation, as well as close observation of the tiger's diet and health conditions, expert evaluation and demonstration showed that this wild Siberian tiger has normal physiological indicators, no abnormal behaviors and disease risks, and it is suitable to return to nature as soon as possible.
After determining the goal of the reintroduction, the experts began intensively choosing the place of reinstatement.
Should it be released in situ, or should it be released elsewhere?
Standing under a big tree in the forest farm, Jiang Guangshun told reporters: "In the selection of the tiger's return site, we have fully evaluated and considered, mainly considering whether there are enough prey for tigers to survive in the area, and whether the population density is at the same time. It is small enough to minimize the probability of human-tiger conflict."
He explained that there is only a long and narrow forest area near the tiger's spot, and there are many farmland and villages, so it is not suitable for direct release.
"Tigers are animals with a strong sense of territory. We must prevent conflicts between individual wild Siberian tigers in advance. This is also an important reason why we did not easily choose to put tigers in the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park." Jiang Guangshun said.
"This time we chose to release the tiger to the Laoyeling Mountains of Changbai Mountain. It is a good choice from the perspectives of forest quality, prey resources, and population density." Jiang Guangshun said.
Behind him, the trees are dense, the air is fresh, and there are clear streams flowing in the mountains and forests in the distance.
After the tiger is released, how to ensure the safety of both humans and tigers?
This is the most concerned issue of society.
In order to ensure the safety of people and tigers after the Siberian tiger is released to nature, the National Forestry and Grass Administration has successively sent personnel to strengthen the guidance of the reintroduction to nature in Heilongjiang Province, and required a comprehensive patrol of the reintroduction area to eliminate individual wild tigers. Threats to security.
Strengthen the publicity of local villagers’ safety and emergency knowledge, and prepare for follow-up monitoring, early warning and emergency response.
Once signs of a tiger approaching the residential area of the village are found, safety precautions shall be taken in time.
"We also put a satellite tracking collar on the tiger to perform real-time spatial positioning, and also use drone technology to track its behavior, so as to determine the spatial distance between it and the human, and take precautions for the safety of both humans and tigers. "Jiang Guangshun said.
When the tiger returned to the mountains and forests, the experts who had been busy for more than 20 days showed a gratifying smile on their faces.
"These days we have made a variety of plans. At this moment, the hanging heart finally landed. This is the first time that my country has successfully rescued and released a wild Siberian tiger. It has accumulated a lot of good experience for the rescue of the Siberian tiger in the future." An expert said sincerely that as our country's ecological environment gets better and the biological chain becomes more complete, it will become normal to find tigers or other wild animals, and we should gradually adapt to the way of life where humans and wild animals coexist in harmony.
The process of the tiger's emergence in just a few minutes is the concern of the society and the hard work of the experts.
A more harmonious ecological civilization environment between man and wild animals, man and nature is taking shape.