Qianjiang Evening News·Hourly News Commentator Xiang Xiangrong
Recently, the third review draft of the Wildlife Protection Law will be submitted to the 38th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress for review, and it is planned to further improve wildlife population control measures. The hot topic of "wild boar is planned to be deleted from the list of three species of animals" has aroused public concern, and it is hoped that the confrontation between humans and wild boars will usher in a turn for the better.
As a common animal in nature, the existence of wild boar is not terrible. What is terrible is that this species has bad foraging habits. It is a typical omnivore and likes to eat all kinds of crops. It is also very good at destroying fields. The crops that are ravaged may be several to ten times more than what is eaten. A survey found that only 5% to 10% of crop losses are caused by wild boar feeding, and the other 90% to 95% of losses are caused by the gnawing, turning, and trampling of pigs. These directly affect the grain harvest, and even lead to no harvest.
It is estimated that the number of wild boars in our country may have exceeded 1 million. China is not the only country that is a "big wild boar country". Many countries around the world are affected by it. For example, the wild boar population in the United States is about 6.5 to 9 million, with annual economic losses of 1.5 to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calls this phenomenon the "wild boar bomb."
However, protected by the " Animal Protection Law ", the growth momentum of the wild boar population has not been effectively curbed. The problem of wild boar damage has evolved into a "long-standing problem". The "three animals" protective talisman has become a difficulty in controlling wild boars.
Wild boars have strong reproductive and adaptability capabilities. The natural life span of wild boars is also very long, which can reach 10 to 14 years in the wild. During the entire life cycle , a pair of wild boars is enough to establish a large natural population. Because of ecological improvements, the wild boar population capacity has been increased. Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Ecological improvement is a good thing. The harm caused by the proliferation of wild boar forces us to fine-tune the law, which is also in line with public opinion. For example, from 2016 to 2017, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units conducted a survey of villagers in the Qinling Mountains of Xi'an. The results showed that 84.61% of local residents hope that the wild boar population will be reduced or eliminated, and the number of people who agree with the killing of wild boars is as high as 83.08%. The attitude is generally the same everywhere.
To reduce the number of wild boars to a controllable range, deleting them from the list of three species of animals is a feasible strategy. Mobilizing the power of the masses to comprehensively prevent and control them is much more effective than hiring a few hunting teams to hunt.
But it should be noted that because of the reproductive capacity of wild boars, the rate of human hunting will definitely not be able to match the growth rate of wild boar populations. Domestic wild boars lack natural enemies. Affected by environmental changes, the number of natural enemies of wild boars such as tigers, leopards, jackals, and bears is less than before. An adult wolf can kill 50 to 80 wild boars every year. The lack of natural enemies is not enough to control wild boars that number in the millions.
To control wild boars, we still need to pay attention to the restoration of the ecosystem and strengthen the protection of carnivorous animals. When the population of carnivores recovers and the biological chain is complete, the predator chain can operate healthily and the problem of wild boars can be fundamentally solved.
This article is an original work of Qianjiang Evening News. Without permission, any use of the copyright of the work, such as reprinting, copying, excerpting, adapting and disseminating on the Internet, is prohibited. Otherwise, this newspaper will pursue the legal liability of the infringer through judicial channels.
