Wildlife Protection Faces New Conundrum

By Lan Xinzhen

When ferocious beasts loom in hu- man domains， there is no doubt they will trigger local screams. And as of late， such scenes have not been uncommon across China. On April 23， an adult Siberian tiger pounced on a villager toiling on his farmland in northeast Chinas Heilongjiang Province and then fled the scene. Later， when people tried to trace the tiger， the animal slammed aggressively into the window of their vehicle with the seeming intention to hurt someone. The tiger was finally released back into the wild after being captured whilst under anesthesia.

Since April 16， 15 Asian elephants from Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province have set out on a quest taking them all the way up north to Kunming， provincial capital of Yunnan in southwest China. Thus far， they have traveled more than 500 km. In order to prevent any human-elephant conflict， villagers residing along the elephants route northwards have been told to hide from them.

On June 2， a leopard was discovered along the roadside in Xianyang， Shaanxi Province in central China. This was the second time within a month that a leopard had been found roaming within the boundaries of a human residential area.

With so many wild animals invading manmade dwelling， these are no longer isolated events. There are many explanations， with one widely accepted： the numbers of various wildlife species are on the rise. Limited natural reserves are unable to accommodate surging animal populations， and thus some of them have to venture outside of their original confines.

Whereas the expansion of the megafauna is proof of Chinas success in preserving its wildlife， it also implies a host of novel challenges facing Chinas efforts to protect its wildlife.

Strict measures

As early as 1950， the Chinese Government issued a document on the protection of rare animals and the countrys first natural reserve was established at Dinghu Mountain in Guangdong Province in 1956. China signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora （CITES） in 1981， and in 1988 passed the Law on the Protection of Wildlife， followed by various regulations on natural reserves， endangered spe- cies import and export and so on. A relatively well-developed protection and management network has thus taken shape over the past decades.

Chinas wildlife protection can be divided into four parts. First， habitat protection. According to statistics from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration（NFGA）， across the country， there are 11，800 natural reserves， national parks and nature parks， covering 85 percent of the countrys wildlife species， including more than 300 species of animals under state special protection. Second， clampdowns on wildlife poaching and the illegal trade of wildlife. Chinese laws and regulations today forbid supermarkets， eateries， e-commerce platforms and the likes to get mixed in any type of transactions involving wildlife. The public can report any suspicions or confirmed ongoings to the authorities via hotlines. Those who are confirmed to have conducted such trade will receive severe legal punishment. Third， the captive breeding of endangered species. The Law on the Protection of Wildlife allows for the captive breeding of endangered animals like giant pandas， spotted deer and Asian elephants， as these breeding techniques are already quite sophisticated. Last but not least， establishing international and regional cooperation mechanisms， such as international conferences on snow leopards， tigers and elephants， international cooperation on the clampdown of wildlife-related crimes， as well as the cooperation with International Criminal Police Organization， World Customs Organization，and ASEAN.