China News Service, Xining, August 13th, title: Animal love "hot search": Experts suggest that China's wildlife protection should "think coldly" about threats and opportunities
China News Service reporter Zhang Tianfu
The Asian elephants moved north from Yunnan to "home", the Tibetan antelopes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were "downgraded", and the animals in the Beijing Safari Park "watched" and "emulated" human fights... In early August, the above reflected the effectiveness of wildlife protection, even between humans and wild animals. The nonchalant topics have rushed to the "hot search" one after another.
At the same time, experts suggest that the topic of symbiosis between humans and wild animals should be "thinking coldly."
Wild animals love "hot search"
On the 8th, an "official statement" of the Beijing Wildlife Park used humorous language to blast social platforms on the "hot search".
The name of the Internet, this "official statement" is worthy of "detailing."
The above-mentioned "official statement" stated that: tourists had disputes over trivial matters while visiting the Beijing Wildlife Park, and then verbally abused and beat each other, and caused a large number of tourists and nearby animals to watch.
Some animal families followed suit in the animal shelter that night, and the scene was out of control for a while.
At 20 o'clock that day, 14 Asian elephants that "ran away from home" for thousands of kilometers were successfully "drained."
It is reported that the elephant group safely crossed the main stream of the Yuanjiang River via the old 213 National Highway Yuanjiang Bridge in Yuanjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, marking a decisive progress in the migration assistance work of the Asian elephant group moving north.
As of press time, Asian elephants have entered the territory of Mojiang County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province and have returned to their traditional habitats.
Previously, Internet users in China and the world, who have observed the Asian elephants' every move for hundreds of days through various methods, "sighed a sigh of relief."
On the 10th, the Tibetan antelope living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was also “not to be outdone”. The topic of “downgrading” the protection level of Tibetan antelope (from endangered species to near-endangered species) has once again become a hot topic in the media and the public.
However, as early as a few years ago, the Tibetan antelope had been "downgraded."
Lian Xinming, an expert from the Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in the assessment of the World Conservation Union, the Tibetan antelope has crossed the "vulnerable" level and has been directly reduced from "endangered" to "nearly endangered", indicating that the population is on the rise and will continue in the future. Continue to rise, "This is one of the most successful cases of human participation in wildlife protection."
Regarding the topic of Tibetan antelope "downgrade" this time, and even the giant pandas and snow leopards that have been "downgraded" before, Chinese netizens said, "Everyone likes this "downgrade"."
"Cool Thinking" Between People and Wild Animals
Regarding the topic of "home" of the Asian elephants moving north from Yunnan, Shen Qingzhong, a senior engineer of the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Management Bureau in Yunnan, said at a press conference earlier that with the rapid growth of wild elephant populations in Yunnan, the migration and spread of Asian elephants will not be possible. avoid.
Migration is a normal behavior, which helps wild elephants find new habitats and carry out gene exchanges between populations.
Regarding the protection of Asian elephants, Shen Qingzhong said that the government has begun to promote the construction of national parks and carry out a predictive and long-term overall layout and planning from the perspective of protection and balance.
He suggested that we further comprehensively analyze and summarize the experience and lessons of Asian elephants moving northward, scientifically demonstrate the possibility of using natural barriers such as Yuanjiang, customs clearance, and Ailao Mountain to deploy defense lines, and try to control the range of elephant herd activities within suitable habitat areas.
On the 13th, Peng Kui, an eco-protection expert from the Institute of Sustainable Global Environment of Social Organizations, said that in addition to the "lively" discussions on social platforms, two core issues should be calmly paid attention to.
First of all, with the strengthening of ecological protection, the number of wild animals and plants will inevitably increase, even faster in some places. This is also a manifestation of the achievements of China's ecological civilization construction.
Second, Peng Kui said that in recent years, when Asian elephant activities have destroyed crops, Tibetan antelopes and Tibetan wild donkeys "grabbing" pastures will definitely occur, and the frequency will definitely increase in the future.
"For a long time in the past, humans have been invading the traditional habitats of wild animals, resulting in insufficient current habitats. In the process of recovery of wild animal populations, there will naturally be conflicts with humans."
In view of this, Peng Kui said that there are now 300,000 Tibetan antelopes in China, but they are still far from the scale of millions in history. 'Too much protection', the number of many wild animals is far from reaching the historical stable level or the scale of population health."
"A few decades ago, when ecological protection was not strong, the number of wild animals such as Tibetan antelopes quickly declined to endangered status in a short period of time, which shows that protection should not be relaxed or downgraded easily." Peng Kui said.
Peng Kui said that continuing to expand wild animal habitats or migration corridors is still an important task. “The increase in the number of wild animals will inevitably provide them with corresponding habitat space. Expanding migration corridors can enhance the genetic exchange of wild animal populations. Lack of The crisis of gene exchange is widespread, and we cannot relax our vigilance."
In addition, to resolve the conflict between wild animals and human communities, Peng Kui said that in addition to the establishment of ecological compensation, wildlife accident insurance and other systems, the development of eco-tourism and the provision of ecological products, so that community residents can benefit from ecological protection, and then realize "Golden Mountain and Silver Mountain".
"Human beings want to coexist harmoniously with wild animals, and they need to learn to'benefit' wild animals and the whole nature, because this is the safety guarantee for the sustainable development of mankind," said Peng Kui. (Finish)