Wildlife conservation, it's time for major surgery

A few days ago, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration issued the "Directory of Terrestrial Wild Animals with Important Ecological, Scientific and Social Value (Draft for Comment)" to solicit opinions from the public. In the draft list for comment, it can be found that the wild boar that was included in the "List of Beneficial Terrestrial Wild Animals Protected by the State or of Important Economic and Scientific Research Value" in 2000 has been deleted, which can be regarded as a measure for the forestry and grassland department to deal with the recent disaster of wild boars in some places and to deal with the contradiction between the killing of wild boars and laws and regulations.

In recent years, due to measures such as the all-round ban on hunting, grazing control, and returning farmland to forests and grasslands, the habitat of wild animals has improved significantly, and the number of wild boars, wolves, hares, foxes, sparrows and other three animals has increased significantly, causing certain damage and threats to farmland and grasslands. In some parts of Sichuan, farmers set up power grids, animal sets, traps, etc. to kill wild boars that invade the cultivated land in order to prevent wild boars from destroying their fields and crops, and some people have been sentenced for this. Although local governments intend to carry out organized killings to reduce the harm of wild boars, their measures still have no legal basis, or even the government's hunting behavior is still illegal. In this context, it is appropriate for the State Forestry and Grassland Administration to revise the "List of Terrestrial Wild Animals Protected by the State that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value" in a timely manner.

However, it should be noted that removing wild boars from the Catalogue means that wild boars are completely out of legal protection, and their populations may face all-round hunting. We know that the survival of a wild animal is not isolated, it is always in a certain position in the ecological chain or food chain, and has an impact on the organisms upstream and downstream of the food chain. For example, a wild boar, its food is grass roots, grain, wild fruits, etc., but it may be the food of wolves, leopards, tigers, etc. While the increase in wild boars has an impact on people, it is also conducive to the development of populations of protected animals in the upper food chain. Therefore, the protection of wild boars should continue. In fact, wolves, sparrows, etc. in the "three haves" animals, like wild boars, pose a threat to human communities or food security in some places, and do they need to be removed from the protective circle?

So the question is, do we protect or not protect these wild animals that conflict with human activities? I think the key lies in our understanding, because it must be clear that we first protect the sustainable development of human ecology supported by a benign biosphere, followed by a healthy biosphere composed of wild animals, and then a healthy biosphere of wild animals, and then a healthy biosphere of wild animals. Therefore, the purpose of protecting wild animals is to protect the living and development space of human beings, because human beings are the first, and biosphere diversity is also in the service of human development. When the activities of wild animals pose a threat and damage to human security and development, the precondition for the hunting or manslaughter of any wild animal, including endangered animals, should be legally exempt from liability, and this precondition is that human safety or interests are damaged, and the other is inevitable or non-subjective intentional.

Therefore, in line with this concept of protection, the "three haves" animal list and its regulations should be abolished immediately, because there are too many animals that need to be protected, and the people can't remember it! Instead of listing those that need to be protected, it is better to list wild animals that do not need protection and form a "List of Ordinary Terrestrial Wild Animals", which includes flies, mosquitoes, house rats, cockroaches, locusts, fleas, etc., and is not protected by laws and regulations. Most importantly, two provisions have been added to the Wildlife Protection Act: 2. Except for animals listed in the list of endangered wild animals, the list of ordinary terrestrial wild animals, and the list of domesticable and bred wild animals, all other terrestrial wild animals shall be prohibited from being captured or killed for the main purpose of profit, food, entertainment, and gift; and when the safety of persons and property is threatened or damaged, the defensive capture or killing of such wild animals is allowed.

In contrast, many previous cases of lamentation: the protection of crops to hunt wild boar was sentenced, the wild donkey who crashed into the road was caught, the breeding parrot was punished for selling, and the self-breeding monkey was illegal, these acts did not cause serious harm to the wildlife population, ecology and others, and out of reasonable demands or inevitable accidents, they were still punished by law, which is a manifestation of the imperfect legal system. So, in order to build a virtuous relationship between man and nature, it is time for major surgery on wildlife conservation regulations!