Comment | Wild boars are planned to be removed from the "Three Haves" list, and wildlife protection must also keep pace with the times

As the ecology recovers, wild boars may no longer be listed as "three-have" wild animals. This is a call for harmonious coexistence between humans and animals and for wildlife protection methods to keep pace with the times.

In recent years, the ecological environment has improved and the number of wild animals has increased. Wild boars, once a protected animal, have become the most widespread and most damaging wild animal in China, with frequent incidents of wild boars injuring people, causing death and destroying property.

Recently, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China", after organizing scientific evaluation, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration issued the "List of Terrestrial Wildlife with Important Ecological, Scientific and Social Values ​​(Draft for Comments)" (referred to as the "Three-Have" List) and solicited public opinions. In this draft for comments, wild boars, which were listed in 2000, are planned to be deleted.

Due to legal provisions, the concept of protecting wild animals has become increasingly popular. In many cases of human-pig conflicts, people can only watch pigs hurt people and steal food, but people cannot hurt pigs. The emergence of the draft for comments means that the management department has officially responded to the problem and incorporated it into the legal track to solve it. It is a beneficial attempt and also provides an effective path to fundamentally resolve human-pig conflicts.

The basis of law is facts, scientific evidence, public opinion and ethics. The basic understanding of wild boars injuring people and destroying property is that even when conflicts occur between people, people have the right to defend themselves. When wild boars injure people and destroy property, people have the right to defend themselves. This is basic common sense and does not need to be emphasized.

On the other hand, although the relationship between humans and animals involves many factors such as animal welfare, it is still naturally based on human interests, but animals need to be protected. When conflicts of interest expand to affect people's normal life or even survival, it is necessary to prevent wild animals from harming people and reduce their damage to human property.

From the perspective of ecological balance, there is a dynamic balance between humans and animals, and between species. With the changes in time, space and environment, this balance is constantly adjusting. It is both balanced and unbalanced. When any imbalance occurs, it needs to be adjusted in a timely manner.

Over time, when the habitat of a certain type of wild animal changes and cannot be controlled, if it causes harm to humans and other species, it will also lead to ecological imbalance. Therefore, measures should also be taken to control the number of animals.

However, how to control and kill wild animals must be based on scientific evidence and within the framework of the legal system, which should be reflected in legislation, amendment, abolition and interpretation of laws. At present, China's existing laws have clearly stipulated that when wild animals endanger human and ecological safety, they can be killed, so clear interpretation of the law is needed.

Article 21 of China's Wildlife Protection Law clearly states that "hunting and killing of wildlife under state protection is prohibited", but also points out that "for scientific research, population control, epidemic source and disease monitoring or other special circumstances", a special hunting license can be applied for from the wildlife protection department to hunt. Obviously, "other special circumstances" should include situations where the over-reproduction of wildlife populations harms humans and the ecology. However, the interpretation of the law should be detailed.

Other countries also have laws that clearly stipulate that if wild animals injure people and become harmful animals, they can be hunted. In 2007, Japan enacted the "Law on Special Measures to Prevent Birds and Animals from Damaging Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries" (Law No. 134 of 2007), proposing that in order to prevent wild animals from damaging agriculture, forestry and fisheries, cities and towns should formulate a "Bird and Animal Damage Prevention Plan" and form a bird and animal damage countermeasures implementation team. With the permission of the city and town, the bird and animal damage countermeasures implementation team can be free from the restrictions of hunting laws, hunting seasons and hunting areas, and can expel and hunt harmful birds and animals. At the same time, Japan revised the "Special Law on Bird and Animal Damage Countermeasures" in 2016, and the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries jointly planned and implemented it.

It can be seen that the draft for soliciting opinions proposes to remove wild boars from the "three-protected" animals, which is based on facts and scientific basis.

According to calculations by ecologists, the reasonable population density standard for wild boars per square kilometer of land is 2. However, in some places, the number and population of wild boars have exceeded this value. A 2021 survey in Xiuning County, Anhui Province found that the total number of wild boars in the county was about 7134-7946, and the number of wild boars per square kilometer of land reached 3.8 per square kilometer. Moreover, the harm caused by wild boars to humans is a top priority that needs to be prevented. According to the paper data of the Wildlife Conservation Station of Longnan City, Gansu Province alone, wild boars in Longnan killed 12 people from 2016 to 2020.

The reason for the increasing number of wild boars is that they have amazing fertility, rich food habits, and strong adaptability. Therefore, controlling the number of wild boars cannot be ignored, but local areas should determine the number of wild boars to be killed based on the identification of wild boar numbers and the assessment of the damage caused by local wild boars to people and crops.

Of course, hunting is not the only way to control the number of wild boars. In the long run, solving the problem of wildlife habitat is also a safe way. Wild boars mainly tend to destroy farmland next to their original habitats. Therefore, just like returning farmland to forests, returning some land to wild boars and wild animals is also a way to resolve the conflict between people and pigs. In addition, using multiple means such as warning lights, charging horns, barbed wire nets, weak current protection nets, and alternative crops (silage corn) to reduce the frequency of wild boars entering farmland can also protect people and crops, reduce the harm caused by wild boars, and protect wild boars at the same time.

Written by Zhang Tiankan (columnist)

Editor/Ji Jingjing New Media Editor/Lv Bingxin

Image source/Visual China

Produced by: Science Central Kitchen

Produced by: Beijing Science and Technology News | Science Plus Client

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