China News Network, Jilin Hunchun, March 22 (Reporter Guo Jia) In 1998, experts from China, Russia, and the United States conducted a large-scale special survey of tigers and leopards in northeast China and found that only three to five tigers in Hunchun, Jilin, China Northeast leopard 2 to 4 Twenty-two years later, Hunchun Forest District has become the region with the most wild tiger and leopard distribution in China. The latest statistics show that 33 Siberian Tigers and 43 Leopards were photographed here.
Photo courtesy of Jilin Province Forestry and Grassland Bureau crossing a Northeast leopard across the Sino-Russian border
Occupy a land border to the east
Northeast China is the hometown of wild tigers and leopards, but since the 20th century, the population of wild tigers and leopards has declined sharply due to factors such as habitat destruction, and almost disappeared by the end of the 1990s. The Russian investigation showed that the number of tigers and leopards in the Russian Far East was increasing at that time, which indicates that tigers and leopards in China were forced to "go abroad".
In order to restore the survival environment of tiger and leopard, in 2001, Jilin Hunchun Northeast Tiger Nature Reserve was approved and established. It was promoted to a national nature reserve four years later, becoming China's first national nature protected by tiger, leopard and habitat. protected area.
In the following 20 years, tigers and leopards appeared frequently in Hunchun Forest District, and many ecological corridors between Hunchun Forest District and the Siberian tiger population were opened. "Hunchun's habitat is a bridgehead for the restoration of Chinese tiger populations, and it is a major place for tigers to spread to the interior." Said Liu Peiqi, director of the Northeast Regional Project Office of the WWF Beijing Representative Office.
In fact, it is not easy to “go and go”. At the beginning of the creation of the protected area, there was no source of funds. The Hunchun Forestry Bureau “crowded” from the operating funds of the enterprise to live a tight overall situation and implemented the strictest forest resource management system. Through recuperation, the ecological environment in Hunchun forest area has been greatly improved, the number of ungulates has increased significantly, and tigers and leopards have also embarked on a "homecoming journey" from here.
Lai Renhe
Patrol is an important support for tiger and leopard protection. Gao Dabin, director of the Wild Resources Conservation Division of Hunchun Siberian Tiger Reserve Management Bureau, is an "Veteran" in the patrol team. He has dealt with this forest and the wild animals in the forest for nearly 20 years. Wild animals, such as tigers, are facing head-on.
"At four or five in the morning, you followed me into the mountains. Sika deer and wild boar are everywhere. It is not new to see the footprints of Siberian tigers and Leopards!" Gao Dabin said.
However, there are new worries as wildlife grows. "People's conflicts with wildlife will become more prominent as their populations recover." Liu Peiqi said that this contradiction is a barrier that protection must go through.
Gao Dabin told reporters that in the early years, Jilin Province had no compensation measures for personal and property damage caused by wild animals. However, the occurrence of Northeast Tiger cattle-eating incidents frequently caused common people to have great resistance to protection.
In this regard, the reserve has used the funds raised from international organizations to compensate people for losses caused by wildlife. "Because of limited funds, a cow could only compensate 30% at that time. But it was better than nothing." Gao Dabin said.
In addition, Hunchun Forestry Bureau also organized villagers' representatives and related departments to convene joint meetings, sign protection and protection contracts, set up a tiger and leopard monitoring hotline and information reward mechanism, and pioneered a new way of multi-party co-management and joint protection.
Practice has proved that these measures are effective. Gao Dabin told reporters that the protection awareness of ordinary people in the area has greatly improved, and many villagers have become patrolmen. It is even more gratifying that new hunting kits are basically not seen in this area.
According to Liu Peiqi, habitat degradation and fragmentation remain one of the difficulties in protecting tigers and leopards. Planning and building ecological corridors for Tiger and Leopard, and exploring the win-win situation between the aboriginals and Tiger and Leopard in the protected area will be arduous and the process will be long.
The Siberian Tiger Habitat Ranger Tournament jointly participated by Chinese and Russian patrolmen is held in Hunchun Forest District. The Chinese patrolmen are in the game (data map)
Top design welcome
Since the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system was piloted, new policies have been introduced, new institutions have been established, and monitoring methods have been continuously innovated. These "top-level designs" have basically taken the lead in Hunchun Forest District.
The 23 sections of Siberian Tiger and Leopard newly released by Jilin Province Forestry and Grassland Bureau all come from Hunchun Forest District. These data are transmitted from the wild in real time through the Northeast Tiger and Leopard Monitoring and Research Center Wildlife Resource Monitoring System of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration.
Jiang Jinsong, an expert from the Jilin Province Tiger and Leopard Expert Group, said that in recent years, the Northeast Tiger and Leopard has been active in Hunchun on the border of China and Russia. "We have monitored 6 breeding families of Siberian tigers and 5 breeding families of Siberian leopards, and found that the larvae of Siberian tiger leopards have accounted for 30% to 35%, which is a very ideal state of population structure."
At the end of 2019, the China-Russia Tiger and Leopard Conservation Park has signed a "three-year cooperation action plan", and the two sides will start cooperation in various fields such as cross-border activities of tiger and leopard. Due to its special geographical location, Hunchun Forest District has become a ground for cooperation projects such as the China-Russia Ranger Tournament.
Liu Peiqi said that cooperation between China and Russia will play a key role in protecting tigers and leopards. WWF has also been committed to deepening cooperation with the Chinese and Russian governments and related institutions to strengthen cross-border protection of tigers and leopards and monitoring of threats to habitats.
Earlier, the narrow strip at the border between China and Russia caused concerns from all sides because the tigers and leopards were too dense, but the latest monitoring shows that they are walking out of this narrow "island". Among them, the Siberian Tiger has penetrated more than 100 miles into the mainland. Kilometers. (Finish)