A fight for survival in Jilin (CN)

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China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/28/content_276015.htm

by WU YONG, China Daily staff

2003-10-28 08:02:58

 

 

CHANGCHUN: Zhang Meiquan, a farmer at the foot of the Changbai

Mountains, has decided to harvest his corn earlier than usual this year to

avoid further losses from rampant wild animals.

 

" I can't wait any longer or there will be nothing left, even though

the corn is not ripe enough, " Zhang says helplessly. " But it is prohibited

to hurt or hunt the wild animals up the mountain. "

 

Seven years after Northeast China's Jilin Province banned hunting, the

population of wild animals has increased and the ecology become more

balanced.

 

But it means the number of incidents involving animals pilfering from

farmers around the Changbai Mountains has increased.

 

As harvesting season approaches, the fate of animals versus the

destiny of farmers is sparking hot debate among local circles.

 

" They (wild boars) usually start destroying the crops of ripe corn in

September and hang around until the final harvest. Last year, I was only

able to pick a bag of corn in my 0.3-hectare plot of land, " said Dong

Chengli in Xin An, a remote town in the range of the mountains.

 

However, an official from the local forestry department takes a

different view.

 

" Wild animals only get into framers' crops because they struggle to

find food in the mountains in winter, " said Jiang Jinsong from the Wild

Animal Protection Bureau of the Jilin Forestry Department. " And they usually

don't attack humans unless they are provoked. "

 

According to the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, which was adopted

in China in 1989, people who suffer losses or injury from wild animals under

State and local government protection can apply for compensation from

wildlife protection departments.

 

But Jiang said only the farmland that is officially under protection

can be taken into consideration for compensation. Forests being used to grow

crops are not included under the law and should be returned to their natural

state.

 

He said the local administrative department is drafting regulations to

further deal with the issue.

 

Boasting fertile, black soil, forests and pastures, Jilin has 2,700

wild plant species and 1,100 wild animal species, some of which are rare and

endangered.

 

As one of the provinces leading China in building a better ecological

environment, Jilin has had anti-poaching polices in place since 1996.

 

About 460 poaching cases involving 3,000 wild birds and animals were

investigated last year, according to Zhang Lufeng, deputy director of the

provincial forestry department.

 

 

(China Daily 10/28/2003 page3)

 

 

 

Asian Animal Protection Network

http://www.aapn.org/