【瑞安市】People's Tolerance towards Elephants Migration in Yunnan Showed the Progress of Social Civilization

潘文彬 2021-07-29 17:28:39

As a key species in the forest, the Asian elephant is an "engineer" to maintain the balance of the forest ecosystem and plays an extremely significant role in maintaining the ecological diversity, including promoting seed germination and creating habitats for other animals. Since the start of elephant herd migration in Yunnan, they have become the protagonists of public media, which showed the society's preference for their cuteness. On the one hand, it should be emphasized that the migration of wild elephants that originally inhabited the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve has caused many unfavorable impacts on the urban areas along the migration route. The elephants moved the way north during the migration process and leaved the places they passed into the mess. For instance, abundant cash crops have been destroyed completely and the remaining ones have less market value. Even the villagers’ homes turned upright, and furniture became broken while these elephants entering. On the other hand, the villagers still expressed friendship and understanding towards these "uninvited guests".

Standing the position of regulator, Chinese government departments have made reasonable arrangements for the sake of life safe to lower the potential threats, which can be implied that China is determined in its actions to maintain biodiversity and balance the relationship between human and nature. In order to protect the safe of these 15 northern elephants and the local people, China has devoted all parties’ ability to track the movements of the elephants through various means. For example, the on-site headquarters surveyed the elephant group’s activity trajectory, guided the elephants to follow the planed route, paid close attention to changes in their temperament and assisted in feeding the elephants along the way. For the results, there were no serious casualties of humans and elephants, and the economic losses were relatively small after deducting the part of commercial insurance.

Furthermore, over the years, with the increasing publicity of the Wildlife Protection Law in society, both adults and children have gained more and more in-depth understanding of the relationship between wild animals and humans. Especially through the propaganda of environmental protection by the government, the protection of wild animals has reached the deep unity of thinking and implementation in civilized action. Therefore, although the migration of wild elephants in Yunnan has brought considerable inconvenience and adverse effects to the lives and production along the route, people still presented great tolerance towards elephants, which showed that people consciously and voluntarily abide by the Wildlife Protection Law, and great progress in social civilization. Only when human beings and nature can coexist harmoniously, the world we live in will be more exciting and peaceful. It is noteworthy that protecting nature and biodiversity is not a goal that can be achieved by one country's actions and need global cooperation to take necessary measures together. The Chinese government is extremely willing to share experience with the international community.