As a holy land in the minds of countless tourists, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has always been known as the "Roof of the World". The Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Norbulingka and other famous scenic spots are so beautiful that there is an endless stream of tourists from all over t

As a holy land in the minds of countless tourists, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has always enjoyed the reputation of " the roof of the world ". Famous scenic spots such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple , Norbulingka are so beautiful that tourists from all over the world come to visit every year. There is an endless stream of tourists.

However, in recent years, this Feng Shui treasure land has encountered a troublesome problem. Tens of thousands of stray dogs wander around villages, towns and temples, rummaging for food in garbage dumps, urinating in the street, and even biting for no reason. Injuring tourists and pedestrians, has brought a lot of trouble to local social security. The once all-powerful Tibetan Mastiff economy 20 years ago has lost its former glory, and now only a mess remains.

Celebrities and rich people have set off the Tibetan Mastiff craze in the Mainland

Many people have raised dogs, but when it comes to the increase in the value of pet dogs in the past two decades, the Tibetan Mastiff can definitely be called a myth. At the end of the last century, my country's Tibetan Mastiff breeding industry had just started, and the price per animal was between three and five hundred yuan. By around 2005, the price of Tibetan mastiffs began to soar. The price of breeding dogs was as high as millions or even tens of millions, and demand still exceeded supply.

At the 2012 "China Tibetan Mastiff Cultural Touring Exhibition", a Tibetan mastiff named "One Hundred Million Phantom" was sold for 20 million yuan, setting a new industry transaction record. The price is astonishingly high.

Speaking of the source of the speculation about the value of Tibetan Mastiff, I am afraid it can be traced back to the 13th century AD. Marco Polo described the Tibetan Mastiff in his travel notes: "As big as a donkey, running like a tiger, roaring like a lion, and handsome in appearance" , which suddenly aroused the interest of Americans, and Americans have never seen a Tibetan Mastiff. What it looks like and its mysterious life experience have caused its price to skyrocket, and it has jumped into the ranks of luxury goods. In 1983, Taiwanese star Zhang Peihua bought a Tibetan Mastiff from the United States for NT$1.2 million, which caused a sensation. You know, this money is more than enough to buy a new house. Since then, wealthy businessmen and local tycoons have followed suit, buying one to support their cards even if it has no practical use.

The myth of the Tibetan Mastiff has been shattered, and its value has plummeted.

Thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi. Today's Tibetan Mastiff market has long lost its glory. Over the past twenty years, the value of Tibetan Mastiffs has increased tens of thousands of times. The huge market and huge profits visible to the naked eye once attracted a large influx of capital. After several years of rapid breeding, the number of Tibetan Mastiffs on the market has increased sharply, but the quality is difficult to guarantee. Coupled with the restrictions on the breeding of large dogs in big cities, the Tibetan Mastiff market has finally become saturated. Many breeding farms have hoarded a large number of Tibetan mastiffs that they cannot sell and cannot afford the high breeding costs. They can only choose to release them or sell them to restaurants for slaughter and consumption.

" The New York Times " once reported that a large number of Tibetan mastiffs were packed whole into trucks and transported to slaughterhouses in the Northeast, with the price of each one being only thirty or forty yuan. Their flesh and fur will eventually become hot pot ingredients or glove lining. The once-unparalleled gold-drawing divine dog has now become a stray dog, and is even served on the dining table. Behind the sigh, it actually reflects the collapse of the Tibetan Mastiff economy.

Qinghai is overrun with dogs, and the people are suffering.

How many stray dogs are there in Qinghai? It may be difficult for many people to imagine. According to the " Beijing Youth Daily " report, Maozhuang Township is a Tibetan town with a population of less than 10,000. Jiang Yangcaijia, a 17-year-old local Tibetan student, described it this way:

He spent his time at Sumang Temple During these five years of study, at least 500 stray dogs roamed around the temple every day, almost more than people.

At night, women and children dare not go out alone because they hear news of people being bitten by dogs every day. Every elderly person on the street carries a walking stick, and every child holds a stone in his hand. The purpose is to prevent dogs. Once they see them, they will hit them hard. Only by beating them in advance will the stray dogs not dare. rash.Jiang Yangcaijia said that he himself had witnessed the tragedy of a passerby being bitten on the calf by more than a dozen stray dogs.

Faced with these frightening stray dogs, most locals are disgusted. You must know that stray dogs on the plateau not only endanger the personal safety of residents and tourists, but also pose a potential threat of spreading diseases. Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet and other places are themselves the places where hydatid disease occurs frequently. This pathogenic bacteria often takes stray dogs as hosts and contaminates pastures and water sources through feces. The human body is unable to prevent it and is extremely susceptible to infection.

This disease, known as " insect cancer ", has a high fatality rate, and prevention and treatment methods are very limited. The best way is to control it at the source. In addition, rabies is also a terrible disease common in stray dogs. Therefore, "medication for all dogs and deworming every month" has become a major issue for the local animal husbandry and veterinary department.

Solving the problem of stray dogs must start from the source

Tibetan inhabited areas have a strong Buddhist culture and many local people are compassionate. Although the problem of stray dogs has seriously affected their daily lives, they are unwilling to kill and advocate adoption and rescue. way to solve it. In many towns and villages, local governments and the private sector have jointly funded the construction of special shelters to provide targeted management of these homeless stray dogs.

Stray dog ​​shelters are an effective way to maintain social order. But as time passed, new problems emerged. The normal capacity of an ordinary shelter is about 500 to 2,000, but dogs have a strong breeding ability. Most shelters are quickly "overrun with dogs" and can only expand or build new kennels to relieve the pressure of overload.

A 70-kilogram Tibetan Mastiff needs to eat 300 to 400 yuan of food every day. The cost of feeding stray dogs here is often tens of thousands. Tibetan Mastiffs, which were once worth gold, have now become complete losers. From this point of view, relying solely on public welfare shelters is by no means a long-term solution.

In response to the plight of rampant stray dogs in Tibetan areas, zoology experts have put forward three professional suggestions. The first is to promote the sterilization of and . In plateau areas, one-year-old puppies are already capable of reproduction. They give birth once a year, and the number of newborn puppies in a litter ranges from 3 to 14. In this cycle, the total number of stray dogs increases exponentially , , which must be a huge number. Therefore, it is imperative to promote sterilization. As long as the coverage rate reaches more than 70%, the population can be effectively curbed.

The second is to encourage local adoption. Adoption not only eases the conflict between stray dogs and humans from the source, but also provides them with material security from the dog's perspective. More importantly, adoption can reduce damage to the ecosystem and control the spread of various diseases.

The third is to increase publicity efforts. Most local people still do not realize that dogs can bring serious diseases such as rabies and hydatid disease to humans. Even in the minds of many Tibetans with deep Buddhist concepts, sterilization is equivalent to killing, which goes against their innate religious beliefs. If this concept cannot be corrected, the first two methods will be difficult to implement, and the harm of stray dogs will be difficult to eradicate.

In addition, publicity to all walks of life will also help win more financial donations, which will be of great benefit to alleviating the pressure on shelter and strengthening disease prevention.

Reference:

Survey on the problem of stray dogs in the plateau after the economic collapse of Tibetan Mastiff. Global Human Geography . CNKI.2017-12-10

Tibetan Mastiff after the economic avalanche. Song Jinbo. CNKI.2017-11-10

Author: Sun Yuxiao First review : Ding Haier's proofreading editor: W