From unknown to a star species, it took only five years for the raccoon dog to become famous in Shanghai

From wild boars in Nanjing to weasels in Beijing, there have been more and more news reports of wild animals appearing in cities in recent years. Faced with animals that "break into" cities, people have different ideas. What determines the diversity of ideas?

If you are in Shanghai, a strange animal running out of the bushes might look like this | Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

If it were in Shanghai, the strange animal that appears in the opening scene might be a raccoon dog .

Raccoon dogs are a national second-class protected animal. They are about half a meter long and have gray-brown fur. They look a bit like raccoons, puppies, or foxes. They are accustomed to appearing at night. They are agile and nimble. They can go into the water to catch fish and shrimps, and they can also dig the ground to catch insects to eat. When they live near humans, garbage dumps and cat food fed by people are also their food sources.

Raccoon dogs are distributed in most parts of North China, Central China, East China, and South China. Like many native species, they have gradually disappeared around large cities over the past half century with rapid urbanization, leaving only a small population in mountainous areas. But with their intelligence and a wide range of diets, in recent years, raccoon dogs have returned to the urban areas of Shanghai where they once lived . According to the 2023 Shanghai "Raccoon Dog Census" report, there are more than 300 communities in Shanghai with raccoon dog records, with a population of 3,000 to 5,000 raccoon dogs, and an average density of 0.43 raccoon dogs per hectare in these communities.

What changes have raccoon dogs undergone in order to adapt to the human environment? | Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

However, it only took five years for the raccoon dog to go from being unknown to becoming a "star species" in Shanghai. Five years ago, few people even knew how many raccoon dogs there were in Shanghai and where they were distributed. All of this originally came from people's curiosity about urban wildlife.

Citizens’ curiosity is enough to start a scientific research project

In early 2019, Wang Fang came to Fudan University to teach. He studies conservation biology, and his past research subjects were mostly endangered and rare wild species such as giant pandas, takins, and Asian black bears. But sitting in his office in Shanghai, he had a strong idea: he wanted to understand the wild animals in this city.

Wang Fang grew up in Beijing. When he was a child, he saw long-eared owls, weasels and hedgehogs in Ditan Park. When he was in college, he photographed more than 150 species of birds on the Peking University campus, as well as many amphibians, reptiles and mammals. What impressed him most was the common kingfisher. He always thought that the kingfisher was distant and mysterious, like a legendary creature; but a popular science magazine said that there were kingfishers in Beijing. Later, by the lotus pond of Peking University, he looked up and saw a bird shining with sapphire light - it turned out that kingfishers are really around us.

Common Kingfisher | Shantanu Kuveskar / Wikimedia Commons

These experiences made Wang Fang instinctively believe that even in highly urbanized Shanghai, there must be a lot of wild animals , but their traces have been ignored for many years. He wanted to know how these wild animals are doing in the rapidly developing big cities and what changes they are experiencing.

However, Shanghai is not a hotspot for biodiversity conservation, nor are there any endangered species. Biodiversity conservation does not seem to be a high priority, which has repeatedly caused him to run into obstacles when applying for funding. With no other options, he tried to raise funds from citizens at the suggestion of the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center - this was risky, as even the research team was not sure what wild animals there were in Shanghai, let alone how much support citizens could give.

Unexpectedly, after just over a week, more than 4,000 citizens donated 170,000 yuan through a public fundraising platform to support the investigation of wild animals in Shanghai. Later, with the support of enterprises, the team finally had research funds.

Installing infrared camera | Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

In addition to financial support, many citizens also hope to participate in person. At the suggestion of the citizens, the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center and Wang Fang's research team at Fudan University jointly organized an offline meeting to let everyone know the status of Shanghai's wild animals. Afterwards, more than 90 citizens and the research team installed infrared cameras in seven parks in Shanghai , and the urban wildlife survey in Shanghai was officially launched.

It was the infrared cameras funded and installed by these citizens that later captured the small civet, a first-class national protected animal that was thought to have disappeared in Shanghai long ago, the leopard cat, a second-class national protected animal that was rediscovered, and the raccoon dog... Everyone finally realized that these animals still live in places that people don't notice in this bustling international metropolis of Shanghai.

Infrared cameras captured the small civet (above) and leopard cat (below) | Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

With the original data, Wang Fang's team began to focus on raccoon dogs, recording their numbers and distribution. Starting in 2022, they worked with the Shanghai Forestry Station and the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center to recruit volunteers from the public in order to complete a larger survey. The project was officially renamed the "Raccoon Dog Census." Last year, more than 230 Shanghai citizens participated in the volunteer work of the Raccoon Dog Census.

The project was initially launched with funding from citizens, and has now become a citizen science study that more people can participate in. Wang Fang and his team also decided from the beginning not to make a profit from this research, to make the survey data public, and not to focus on a certain person or group as the center of the research, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate.

But as the distance increases, so does the conflict.

However, not everyone is happy to see wild animals suddenly appear around them. In the face of the epidemic, this conflict has become more obvious.

At the beginning of 2020, the raccoon dog survey was just launched when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. During the pandemic, human activities decreased, and spring is the breeding season for raccoon dogs. In just a few months, not only did the number of raccoon dogs increase sharply, but their distribution range also expanded rapidly . Before the pandemic, raccoon dogs were found in less than 40 communities in Shanghai; a few months later, this number rose to 110. Raccoon dogs also became bolder and even dared to move around in front of people.

Little raccoon dogs that have not yet reached adulthood in the community | Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

But along with this, the number of complaints received by the Shanghai Forestry Bureau has also increased.

According to data from the Shanghai Forestry Bureau in 2021, local complaints about raccoon dogs have increased 32 times in the past five years. And, despite the fact that raccoon dogs are a second-class protected animal, discussions about killing wild animals in residential areas are still frequent. However, most of these hundreds of complaints come only from residents' concerns about the risks of wild animals, and only a handful of cases can be confirmed as conflicts between humans and raccoon dogs, such as when raccoon dogs encounter citizens and in panic, the raccoon dogs' teeth scrape the citizens' ankles.

In the ever-expanding city, dense populations and buildings are constantly compressing the living space of wild animals. When people and wild animals come face to face, both real conflicts and risks, as well as fears caused by lack of understanding, are increasing. But Wang Fang soon discovered that when the distance between people and animals becomes closer, not only do conflicts come faster, but citizens' attitudes towards animals also change faster.

The distance shortens, accelerates the conflict, but also brings about changes｜Wang Fang

He found that as raccoon dogs appeared in residential areas, people's attitudes toward them changed significantly over the course of each year or even every few months.

When raccoon dogs first entered the community, they were unfamiliar with the environment and rarely moved around in front of humans. Residents occasionally encountered raccoon dogs, but most of them just thought they were novel and fun. In the second and third years, raccoon dogs had a stable existence in the community and began to reproduce, and the chances of residents encountering raccoon dogs increased. At this time, people and raccoon dogs often quickly entered a state of confrontation. Residents were worried that they would bite people, bite pets, hurt children, scare the elderly who were taking a walk... Out of worry and fear, people would complain, call the police, and some even drove them away and captured them privately.

But as time went by, people gradually discovered that these animals did not pose any real risk. They were gentle, timid, and preferred to be active at night. As long as they were not actively fed or provoked, and the community did a good job of cleaning up the garbage and limiting the feeding of cat food, raccoon dogs would keep their distance from people.

If fed by humans, raccoon dogs may actively approach humans in search of food, causing conflicts between humans and raccoon dogs; too much food will also lead to an increase in the density of the raccoon dog population, affecting the quality of life of raccoon dogs and increasing the risk of conflict with humans. | Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

Uncleaned garbage will become food for raccoon dogs, which will also lead to an increase in their population density. Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

As long as raccoon dogs and humans are given more time, their relationship can become stable - humans and raccoon dogs share a community and a city, but do not interfere with each other.

Many of these small but specific findings have been included in the "Shanghai Wildlife Protection Regulations" which will come into effect on October 1, 2023. This is the first wildlife protection law in Shanghai , which clearly stipulates "prohibition of feeding wild animals", "protection of wildlife habitats in cities", and "public participation".

Behind different attitudes

Why do some people accept wild animals in cities while others resist?

Wang Fang wanted to know what influenced people's acceptance of these animals . When studying the raccoon dog population, they simultaneously conducted a questionnaire survey of surrounding residents. From April to June 2021, they collected 281 valid questionnaires in the 10 communities with the most conflicts between people and raccoon dogs.

Soon after, Shanghai's wildlife management department and environmental protection organizations carried out scientific education activities in communities with raccoon dogs, instructing residents on how to coexist with raccoon dogs and promoting residents' understanding of raccoon dogs through emoticons, window decorations, etc. After these activities, Wang Fang's team distributed questionnaires again in the same communities.

Community Science Activities | References [1]

In two surveys conducted six months apart, they found some patterns:

After the popular science activities, residents' acceptance of raccoon dogs has significantly increased. Correspondingly, the more familiar people are with raccoon dogs, the more likely they are to accept them.

This familiarity is related to "perceived risk" and "perceived benefit". "Perceived risk" refers to the risk that people think of - it may be a real risk or just an unnecessary worry. In the survey, residents worried that raccoon dogs would attack people, bring infectious diseases, and cause noise and traffic jams. These concerns rarely occurred in the past few decades, but once they arise, people may reject raccoon dogs.

"Perceived benefits" will have a positive impact. People who don't know raccoon dogs often mistake them for alien species, ignoring their benefits to the ecology as native species , such as spreading plant seeds and controlling the number of rats and pests. Therefore, making citizens familiar with and understanding raccoon dogs is the key to resolving conflicts between humans and raccoon dogs. In addition to promoting natural science activities, Wang Fang's team also proposed to the Shanghai government to add content on biodiversity and natural history education to primary and secondary school courses.

They also found that the degree of trust citizens have in relevant management departments is also an important influencing factor . In order to reduce conflicts between citizens and urban wildlife, management departments should let citizens see their ability to manage and protect wildlife and actively respond to citizens' demands.

The paper was published in the journal People and Nature and became the cover story

However, this paper is not the biggest gain of the questionnaire survey - through the questionnaire, they can also directly understand the thoughts of citizens .

For example, in the survey, most citizens said they could accept raccoon dogs, but only if they did not carry infectious diseases. So in the second year, the research team and management department conducted zoonosis tests on raccoon dogs in the city and confirmed that no raccoon dogs carried zoonosis pathogens. These test results can directly and effectively eliminate citizens' concerns.

A one-way survey eventually turned into a two-way communication between citizens and the scientific research team.

They inserted a line from the movie "Pom Poko" at the beginning of the paper. In the movie, wild raccoon dogs struggle to fight for their own living space in the face of the ever-expanding city; in reality, this coexistence space requires humans to take the initiative to explore | Studio Ghibli

This is also what Wang Fang requires of himself. The population density in big cities is high, and when wild animals appear, conflicts between humans and animals are almost inevitable. He hopes that he and his team can have the ability to predict and come up with plans for possible conflicts. " There is no perfect solution ," Wang Fang believes. "Beauty and conflict will always exist. Only by continuously collecting data and adjusting our protection and management measures according to changes in urban wildlife and changes in citizens' attitudes, can urban wildlife have a chance to coexist with humans in the long term."

Fortunately, with the joint efforts of scientific research teams, management departments and social environmental protection organizations, raccoon dogs are now more and more recognized and accepted by people - and the role of citizens cannot be ignored. Whether it is participating in the "raccoon dog census" as a citizen scientist, actively choosing not to feed wild animals, or just being willing to give raccoon dogs more time and space... In the story of people and urban wildlife, everyone can be important.

Humans are trying to share space with animals, and animals are actually trying to adapt to the environment. Wang Fang found that in Shanghai, wild raccoon dogs seem to have a tendency to spread along the rivers, which may be a way for them to adapt to the urban environment. Photo courtesy of Wang Fang

The more wild animals there are in cities, the better. In this special environment built by humans and dominated by humans, the presence of animals is a good thing, but it should not harm human well-being. So, what is the ideal state of human and wild animals in cities?

Wang Fang's answer is: As it should be, but we should share the space with a distance from each other. We and animals should live here as it should be, and we should share a city as it should be.

He recalled that when he was a child, he was playing in the Ditan Park. An old man he didn't know called him over and showed him the pellets spit out by an owl. That opened up a whole new world for him. Now he lives in Shanghai. Last year, there was a rare firefly outbreak in the Xinjiangwan Wetland not far from his home. Every night it was very lively. Every time they passed by, they could hear the children shouting happily, eagerly sharing their new discoveries with their parents - these small glowing insects are not easy for city children to see.

The high-rise buildings and busy traffic in the city often make people forget that this place was once the home of animals. However, these moments of encountering and even being amazed by nature in the city are more than enough to teach us about nature, reminding us that nature has always been here.

This year's raccoon dog census was launched last Saturday, and the second survey will be conducted next Saturday, with a total of about 600 volunteers participating in the survey. Looking forward to the results of this year's survey｜No.52 Team

Author: Mai Mai

Edited by: Yellowtail Pollock