"Closeness" between humans and animals: realizing the synergy of rescue protection and adaptive management

In recent years, the protection of giant pandas has been downgraded, wild boars have been inundated, the Asian elephants in Yunnan are "all the way to the north", Wanda Mountain No.

At the sixth seminar of the "Good Law and Good Governance for Wildlife Conservation" series recently co-hosted by the China Wildlife Conservation Association, the Institute of Environmental Law of Wuhan University and the Natural Resources Conservation Association (NRDC), the participating experts from the "all the way to the north" Talking about the key events of wildlife protection in 2021, we will analyze and comment on the progress made in China's wildlife protection and management

conflict

In 2021, a group of Asian elephants "moving from the north to the south" in Yunnan for many months has won enough public attention

Xie Yi, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Beijing Forestry University, is one of the experts in the working group sent by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration to Yunnan.

Xie Yi introduced that the "All the Way Elephant to the North" is a small short-nosed family elephant group among the Asian elephants

In fact, the movement of elephant herds happens quite often

To this end, Yunnan Province has carried out continuous monitoring of the small short-nosed family elephant herd

The reason why "All the way to the north" has attracted great attention is that Xishuangbanna and Pu'er are the main distribution areas of Asian elephants.

"In addition, going further north, the population, villages, and towns are more dense, which leads to the escalating security risks of people and elephants

Such "human-beast conflict" does not only occur in Yunnan

Jiang Guangshun, executive deputy director of the Feline Research Center of the State Forestry and Grass Administration, as one of the experts of the "Siberian tiger wounding" working group, participated in the disposal of the tiger named "Wandashan No.

Jiang Guangshun said that in the Laoyeling area of ​​Heilongjiang, 22 newly bred tiger cubs have been recorded in the past five years, and these cubs are gradually growing and spreading to areas such as Wanda Mountain.

"In China, the recovery of tigers is relatively good at present

Xie Yi also pointed out that the experience of handling human-animal conflicts has not kept up with the pace of animal protection

In 2018, Xie Yi reviewed the conservation achievements of ten major species in China, including giant panda, Yangtze Elephant, crested ibis, Tibetan antelope, and Asian elephant

release

"Wandashan No.

Before the release, Jiang Guangshun and other members of the working group communicated with Russian experts on the selection of the tiger's release site
.

Based on the suggestions of foreign experts, the best way to release the tiger is to return it to its original population
.
At the same time, the release area must meet the needs of the tiger's home area, that is, the release area can meet the tiger's activities; tigers may conflict with people, so they should be placed in sparsely populated places as much as possible
.

In addition, because "Wandashan No.
1" is a male tiger, its ecological function should be realized as much as possible to make it contribute to the population
.
Therefore, there needs to be a female tiger in the release area, and it should be placed near a population with female tigers, which will play a good role in the reproduction of the tiger population
.

By learning from the experience of tiger reintroduction abroad, and comprehensively considering various aspects such as home territory and physical quantity, the working group finally determined the reintroduction point
.
On the morning of May 18, 2021, "Wandashan No.
1" was successfully released at the Dongxing Forest Farm of Muling Forestry Bureau, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province
.

At the same time as the tigers were released, "our scientific research team set up a real-time tracking and monitoring team composed of fixed personnel, veterinarians, monitoring personnel, drones, police, etc.
, and carried out monitoring and tracking for three months to prevent the occurrence of conflicts.

.
" Jiang Guangshun said
.

The tracking and monitoring results show that the spread of "Wandashan No.
1" is basically stable.
By continuously expanding the scope of its own exploration, "Wandashan No.
1" has stabilized its home domain
.
In terms of predation, etc.
, it is very normal
.

As for the Asian elephants "all the way to the north", the State Forestry and Grass Administration and Yunnan Province have formulated more scientific measures and adopted effective guidance methods to encourage them to take the initiative to "return to the south"
.

On the evening of August 8, 2021, 14 northward-moving Asian elephants passed the Yuanjiang Old Bridge
.
"This is a milestone event
.
" Xie Yi said, "Because when the elephants moved northward, they were wading across the river.
At that time, the river was relatively shallow.
By August, the rainy season had entered, and the river water had skyrocketed, making it difficult for the elephants to cross the river.
The way to cross Jiangnan and return
.
"

And guiding the elephants to cross the river on the bridge broke through some of the original cognition of the living habits of Asian elephants
.
"I originally thought that elephants can't cross bridges, walk highways, or take stairs
.
" What excited Xie Yi and others was, "This experience has made us discover that when we cross bridges, walk highways, and take stairs, we need to , It turns out that elephants can do it
.
It can be said that this time the elephant herd moved north to the south and returned to the south is also a journey of scientific exploration
.
"

Regarding the incident of Asian elephants "moving north and returning to the south", the relevant departments determined that "this work is a successful emergency response work for Asian elephants
.
"

In Xie Yi's view, this is also a very systematic, arduous task, a lot of investment, and scientific policy
.
Since Yunnan Province has accumulated and formed a lot of valuable experience in the long-term protection and management of Asian elephants and other wild animals, it has built a number of professional teams, and the local people have a strong awareness of wildlife protection, and governments at all levels cooperate closely.
When people and elephants are safe, people and elephants coexist
.

system

But Xie Yi also pointed out that wildlife protection and management has greater connotation and extension
.
This is because, "Wild animal protection and management work, it is not only animals that are protected and managed, because protection management also involves people, and it is mainly people who carry out protection and management, and deal with the relationship between people and animals and even between people.
relationship
.
”

Many studies have shown that urban populations have higher willingness to protect wildlife than rural populations.
Why? "It is because with the double growth of wild animal population and rural population, the spatial overlap between the distribution area of ​​wild animals and the production and living area of ​​rural population is continuously intensifying, and the negative effects between them are interactive.
Negative effects, wild animals also have negative effects on people
.
" Xie Yi said
.

The restoration and protection of tigers is one of the important achievements China has made in the process of natural forest protection in the northeastern forest area
.
As a large flagship animal, the tiger has a very important and meaningful role in regulating wild boars and other animals
.

The question Jiang Guangshun is now considering is: "We have achieved the results of natural forest and wildlife protection, so how to adapt to such protection results? How to share such results?"

Xie Yi saw that wildlife protection still faces many challenges on a global scale, such as fragmentation and isolation of wildlife habitats, conflicts between humans and animals, wildlife poaching and smuggling, and wildlife diseases
.
"In some countries where human-elephant conflict is serious, the number of Asian elephants killing almost a hundred people every year
.
This is a global challenge
.
"

"Government-led, based on nature, open cooperation, and multi-party collaboration
.
" This is the suggestion given by Fan Pengfei, a professor at the School of Life Sciences of Sun Yat-Sen University
.
Fan Pengfei's team has been engaged in the protection of Hainan gibbons for a long time
.
As the most endangered primate in the world, the Hainan Gibbon will be "Happy Baby Ape" in 2021
.

In Fan Pengfei's view, animal protection focuses on systematic work
.
"The construction of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park has protected the original habitat of Hainan gibbons.
At the same time, Hainan Province has implemented a series of policies such as natural forest protection and poverty alleviation, turning lumberjacks into forest rangers and ape guards, and has established a special law enforcement team to build an open and cooperative environment.
The international platform has mobilized the whole society to participate in various forms, forming a systematic protection mechanism
.
" Fan Pengfei introduced that through scientific development of habitat restoration, replanting of ape-eating plants and other projects, Hainan gibbons have recovered from the brink of extinction to 35 individuals in 5 groups
.

Nature reserves play an important role in wildlife conservation
.
But for protected areas, "we can't be like in the past, only demarcating and then not moving, no matter what
.
" said Yin Feng, chief engineer of the China Wildlife Conservation Association
.

Yin Feng said that China's "Regulations on Nature Reserves" have been implemented since 1994 and were recently revised in 2017
.
"But in general, the regulations on protected areas have been in place for 20 or 30 years.
Can they adapt to the development requirements under the new situation, can they better promote the management of protected areas, and can they better protect the rights and interests of the people? , are worth thinking about
.
”

"In terms of wildlife protection, we must follow the basic principles of science, and decide what administrative measures and legal mechanisms to adopt based on science
.
" Qin Tianbao, a professor at the Institute of Environmental Law of Wuhan University, said that it is necessary to build a "good law" good governance” environment
.