How to protect wild birds after they inhabit the park?

How to protect wild birds after they inhabit the park? The Old Summer Palace Park Management Office disclosed that the black swan Fang Fang died of a lung infection

During the May Day holiday just past, the Old Summer Palace ushered in the first time since the opening of the park sold out tickets. This century-old garden is bustling with tourists, but many people do not notice that under the iron bridge of Apple Champs, a black swan is floating stiffly on the water, and its slender neck is stretched to the side of the body, losing its original elegant arc.

This dead black swan is called Fang Fang, which is the name given to it by "goose friends". "Goose friends" are a group of black swan lovers, who are often seen around the waters of the Old Summer Palace. They are familiar with the origin and story of each black swan in the garden, and Fang Fang is the most special one.

To a large extent, the black swan has become a business card of the Old Summer Palace, and the news of Fang Fang's death once rushed to the hot search of social networks.

On May 5, a reporter from the Beijing News learned from the management office of the Old Summer Palace Park that Fang Fang died of a lung infection. In the previous 10 days, Goose You had speculated about the cause of death on the other side. After the dust settled, they had new questions: how to treat this elegant species scientifically, and how to grasp the boundary between love and harm?

event

The black swan Fang Fang is dead

Early in the morning of April 4, goose friend Hu Jie (pseudonym) went to the Old Summer Palace to visit the black swan as usual.

Like her, Goose Friends are mostly middle-aged and elderly people in their fifties and sixties, free in time and loving. This group of enthusiasts formed several 500-person WeChat groups to share video pictures and related information, mainly the black swan of the Old Summer Palace.

A senior goose friend for more than ten years, every day will take a one-way bus for more than 1 hour to see the swans. She only loves the swans in the Old Summer Palace because they have names and stories, and "every day to see what each family is doing, it's like visiting your own children." In order to take pictures of the black swan, a goose friend changed the mobile phone equipped with a Leica lens, and there were more photos and videos of the black swan in the album than of his little grandson.

The second old, Chunlin, Da Lao Hei, Fuhai, good girl... Goose friends can distinguish the adult black swan in the Old Summer Palace, who laid a few eggs, hatched a goose, and who found a new girlfriend, can become a talking point.

On this day, Hu Jie just took a video to share with the goose friends group, and saw a message popping up in the group: "A swan died under the iron bridge of Apple Champs." Isn't it square? ”

Frightened, she hurried towards the waters of the Apple Champs, where the two black swans, "Fang Fang" and "Chunlin", often lived. At the scene, Hu Jie saw that a "goose friend" and two tourists were standing by the bridge, and the corpse of a black swan was floating on the water.

The dead black swan's head was relatively round, and Hu Jie recognized that it was Fang Fang, the one that goose friends loved very much among the black swans in the Old Summer Palace.

On the summer solstice of 2022, a black swan with a broken left wing was abandoned in the parking lot of the east gate of the Old Summer Palace, and the park security guards and goose friends took it in and carried it to the Fang River of the Old Summer Palace, which became the origin of its name.

Because of his disability, Fang Fang cannot fly and has no spouse. Goose friends feel that it is lonely and feel especially sorry for it. It can't see abnormalities when it spreads its wings and swims on the surface, but when it spreads its wings and runs ashore, or stretches its neck to interact with its goose friends, it can see that its left wing is pulling, pitiful and cute.

Starting from the Fang River, Fang Fang traveled through many places in the Old Summer Palace, the Great White Bridge, the Loach Gou, the Victory Cover, the Crane House, and until it died of the Apple Xiangxie. In some places, it swims over to play by itself and lives there, and in some places, the park is afraid that other swans will bully it and settle it over.

Now, Hu Jie saw Fang scribbling on the surface of the water, and a cleaning worker came to retrieve its body with an iron rake and put it in a black plastic bag.

On May 5, the Black Swan Fangfang (Fang Fang) of the Old Summer Palace was violently killed on Weibo. On May Day this year, the flow of visitors to the Old Summer Palace surged. Some netizens speculated that it was Fang Fang's death due to the uncivilized feeding of tourists?

background

Black swan in the park

Native to Australia, the black swan is a world-famous ornamental bird. In February 2008, a pair of black swans accidentally flew to the Old Summer Palace and stayed in the garden since then, multiplying here, and gradually formed the Black Swan population of the Old Summer Palace. Entering the park from the east gate, there is a black swan sculpture in the lion forest waters, which is to commemorate them.

The Old Summer Palace attaches great importance to the creation of this business card. He has held black swan photography competitions, designed new homes for black swans, held expert demonstrations on the protection and management of wild birds, and launched micro-films and cultural and creative products featuring black swans.

Zhang Zhengwang, an ornithologist and professor at the School of Life Sciences of Beijing Normal University, said that the black swan in Beijing is an artificial breed of some individuals who run to the wild and gradually rewild, and finally survive in the city. As the number of groups expanded, some individuals came to the Old Summer Palace and gradually developed into ethnic groups.

The Old Summer Palace has open water and numerous lakes, providing a good environment for black swans to nest and breed. In order to retain the black swan, the garden has made a lot of efforts - the food of the black swan is mainly aquatic plants, and in winter, the food is scarce, and the garden arranges special personnel to feed the black swan corn kernels, nest heads and other foods; In order to ensure the normal activity area of black swans, water pumps are updated and installed in the black swan activity habitat area to maintain the flow of water and prevent freezing on the water surface.

In order to prevent tourists from disturbing the hatching black swans, the park has set up a triangular restricted area near the black swan's nest; In addition to setting up signs prohibiting feeding, park security will also come forward to dissuade tourists who feed black swans.

Every morning, a veterinarian hired by the park also patrols the waters of black swans and other wildlife activities to observe and record the growth of black swans.

But the number of black swans in the Old Summer Palace has been decreasing. According to Goose You's recollection: "There used to be fifty or sixty, but now there are only about twenty left. According to media reports, from January 1 to February 30 this year, a total of 2 black swans died in 24 days in the Old Summer Palace, and the cause of death was not disclosed. From January 25 to 8, 2021, a total of 1 black swans died in the Old Summer Palace. After clinical diagnosis, pathological autopsy and laboratory diagnosis by Haidian District Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center and Beijing Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, H22N25 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed.

Two recent mass deaths of black swans occurred during the winter. Sun Luyang, deputy director of the Science Popularization Department of the National Zoological Museum, explained that the breeding season of black swans in Australia, where they originate, is from December to February, which is the summer with a mild climate and abundant food in the southern hemisphere. Even if they come to live in China, the breeding habits of some black swans in their place of origin will not be easily changed. However, the cold tolerance of black swans is not very good, and it can only withstand low temperatures of about minus 15 degrees Celsius, and it is easy to die when encountering extreme low temperature weather. In addition, there are predators of natural enemies, black swan itself, human factors and other lethal factors.

point of view

Love birds also talk about science

Although they all call themselves "goose friends", these black swan lovers are also divided into rational and emotional inside. In the former's view, black swans are wild animals, not pets, they should be allowed to feed independently, should not feed or be too close to them, keep a distance and watch quietly; The latter feeds black swans with corn kernels, crushed nests, and vegetable leaves, and likes to interact with black swans.

The two sides do not recognize each other in terms of ideas, but they can also respect each other in daily life. A rational goose friend mentioned that a goose friend loved black swans very much, and once two male swans fought so fiercely that she jumped into the water and pulled them apart. "The heart is good, but I don't approve of excessive intervention with swans."

Zhang Zhengwang said that since black swans have been rewilded, it is best for people to let them live freely, keep a certain distance from black swans, and avoid some activities that will interfere with their behavior. Artificial feeding can cause black swans to become dependent on artificial food, and the instinct to forage in the wild deteriorates. In addition, the food of black swans is mainly aquatic plants and aquatic organisms, and feeding vegetable steamed buns will make the nutritional structure obtained by black swans tend to be monotonous, which is not good for its health.

In the incident of Fang Fang's death, the views of the two factions of goose friends are also different. The former believes that the park has fulfilled its obligations to the black swan, and should focus on the overall situation and not be overly concerned about the cause of death; The latter felt that the park did not protect and invest enough in the black swan, and was mainly responsible for Fangfang's death, and called the public hotline to complain and ask the park to disclose the autopsy results.

At the strong request of some goose friends, the garden sent Fang Fang's body to a third-party institution for autopsy and testing.

On May 5, a staff member of the Old Summer Palace Park Management Office told a reporter from the Beijing News that the autopsy results showed that "Fang Fang had no obvious trauma, nor was there any possibility of death from trauma, and there was no feeding residue in the digestive tract." ”

Despite all the reluctance, Fang Fang's story has come to an end. More than 20 other black swans in the Old Summer Palace are still frolicking and foraging on the surface of the water, receiving the gaze of geese friends and tourists, or onlookers.

"Black swan protection is not just a matter for staff, but for the whole people. Watch the black swans through a telescope, admire them living freely in nature from a distance, and discover their wonderful behavior. Zhang Zhengwang said.

Beijing News reporter Liu Siwei