【瓯海区】An Elephant-Journey to the North-An Exploration into the Coexistence of Mankind and Nature

卢圣渊 2021-07-29 17:30:57

Hegel once warned us: “When human beings begin to rejoice in their victory over nature, it is the start of punishment on human beings by the nature”. It has been an unavoidable problem in the world regarding the harmonious coexistence between mankind and animals. Particularly since the beginning of this year, there has been endless news about the conflicts between animals and human beings. In April we had the invasion of a village in Heilongjiang Province by a Siberian tiger and in May we had the escape of a leopard in Hangzhou City. How to find a best way for human beings to coexist with the nature once again becomes an urgent issue needing to be resolved. In early March this year, the migration of a herd of Asian elephants out of Xishuangbanna Reserve in Yunnan Province in search of a new habitat also taught us a vivid lesson on ecology.

In Yunnan, it is not rare for wild animals to stray into human settlements and even elephant attacks are not uncommon. However for the elephant migration, no matter whether it is due to change of ecological environment in their original habitat or the leading elephant was lost, the reason that this event caught the attention of many countries and regions around the world and won high acclaims was probably because of the way people were dealing with this event-the respect we showed to the elephant herd and the effort we made in trying to put ourselves in elephants’ shoes when conducting the analyses and other work. On the one hand, local authorities deployed drones to closely monitor the herd, feed and guide the herd as well as evacuate people, which effectively and successfully guided the elephant herd away from the crowds and avoided potential dangers and risks. On the other hand, local authorities also launched elephant liability insurance in a timely manner to cover the losses and damages caused to the villagers by the elephant herd, including the damages to the crops.

Along the way, while we were amused by the cuteness of the elephant herd, such as their cute way of eating, sleeping, playing and wandering, we also had to identify the core issue of all the discussions and researches triggered by this “elephant herd migration” event, which is how to coexist with wild animals and how to protect ecology. This is not just about where the elephant herd was heading to but also is relevant for all the species on this planet. In the ecological chain, every biological population is the blood and foundation of this globe. No one will benefit if imbalance in the ecology occurs. Therefore, we all must remember this event and always be in awe of nature and take action to protect natural ecology and respect wild animals. Perhaps only in this way can we pay our tribute to the effortful migration of the elephant herd.