What can we do? , strictly investigate the deaths of 20 Siberian tigers! The Tiger Roaring Mountain Forest was hard-won

On May 13, a piece of distressing and even angry news spread online:

Some media reported that "many animals died abnormally in a private wildlife park in Yingdong District, Fuyang, Anhui, and the living conditions of the surviving animals were poor." The dead animals included 20 Siberian tigers, 2 African lions, 3 giraffes and other rare wild animals.

At present, Fuyang has established an investigation team led by the municipal party committee and the municipal government to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the death of wild animals. The follow-up investigation and handling will be announced to the public in a timely manner.

The revelation that many rare wild animals died in such poor living conditions in zoos is heartbreaking, especially for many people who are committed to protecting Siberian tigers. Netizens condemned that animals should not be subjected to such abuse and called for severe punishment of relevant parties who ignore animal rights.

The achievements of Siberian tiger protection in my country are hard-won. In 1988, the World Wildlife Fund predicted that wild Siberian tigers would disappear from China within the next 40 years. But today, not only are the wild Siberian tigers in China not extinct, but they are showing positive trends such as increasing population numbers and steady restoration of habitats.

What ups and downs has my country experienced on the road to protecting Siberian tigers? What is the survival status of Siberian tigers? What can we do to protect Siberian tigers?

The wild Siberian tiger is known as the "King of Tigers" and is the largest existing carnivorous cat. It is mainly distributed in the Russian Far East and Northeast China and is listed as "one of the top ten endangered animals in the world."

Nearly a century ago, due to excessive deforestation and disruption of the food chain, the wild Siberian tiger population shrank rapidly. As the flagship species in the forest, the "escape" of the Siberian tiger means an imbalance in the ecosystem. The protection of wild tigers is a difficult task for the world.

In 2010, 13 tiger range countries around the world unanimously decided to bring tigers back from the brink of extinction and set a goal of doubling the global tiger population by 2022. China has almost completed its "assessment" in protecting Siberian tigers early.

This year is the 38th year of artificial breeding and breeding of Siberian tigers in my country. In 1986, the then Heilongjiang Provincial Foreign Economic and Trade Department and its affiliated native livestock products import and export enterprises worked together with relevant national departments to transfer 8 Siberian tiger breeders from domestic zoos and established an off-site conservation center in Hengdaohezi Town, Heilongjiang Province. , the "China Hengdaohezi Cat Breeding and Breeding Center" which mainly raises and breeds Siberian tigers.

In 1996, the center established the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Forest Park on the north bank of the Songhua River in Harbin, and began the tiger breeding path of "raising tigers with tigers, releasing tigers out of the mountains, and releasing tigers to work". It adopted a semi-dispersed model to allow Siberian tigers to live in Live freely in a simulated ecological environment, carry out tourism, and invest ticket income into Siberian tiger breeding, scientific research and protection, and personnel expenses.

In 2011, the Manchurian Tiger Park acquired and expanded the Shenyang Guaipo Siberian Tiger Park, further expanding its scale, and the most difficult days were over. The number of Siberian tigers has also increased from 8 at the beginning to more than 1,300 by the end of 2017.

According to 2023 data, as of December 2023, the breeding center welcomed 63 tiger cubs that year, with a survival rate of 86%.

Jiang Guangshun, executive deputy director of the Feline Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that due to the extinction of some tiger species, China should be proud of overcoming the problem of artificial breeding and breeding of Siberian tigers. It not only preserves a well-preserved gene pool for Siberian tigers, but also provides important conditions for wild tiger research and provides a good foundation for the restoration of wild Siberian tiger populations.

At the breeding center, another major task is the training of Siberian tigers into the wild. At present, the breeding center has a rewilding training area of ​​40,000 square meters. The environment in the park is made to look like a virgin forest, so Siberian tigers can be rewilded in a natural environment.

In order to "let the tiger return to the mountain" as soon as possible, training in hunting in the wild is essential. In addition to regularly releasing live ducks and chickens to exercise the Siberian tiger's jumping ability and flexibility and enhance its hunting ability, the breeding center currently adds a "technological element" to the tiger's training - drone feeding.

Xu Haitao, from the Veterinary Department of China Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding and Breeding Center, said that rewilding training eliminates direct contact between humans and tigers, and improves tigers' climbing, running, observation, and cognitive abilities of emerging things.

In 2005, a scientific research team from Beijing Normal University went into the forests of Northeast China to carry out 10 years of monitoring work on Northeast tigers and leopards. They found that thanks to China's efforts, the Siberian tiger population has increased significantly, but it still faces an "isolated island dilemma."

"The Siberian tiger is an animal with extremely high territorial requirements." said Feng Limin, a core member of the team. "Traditional nature reserves are distributed in strips and are small in area. Cultivated land, pastures, roads and railways are interspersed in the area, causing fragmentation problems. Outstanding, it also faces multiple management problems and cannot effectively eliminate human interference.”

Promoting the recovery of tiger and leopard populations in China is an ambitious project. On December 5, 2016, the "Pilot Plan for the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park System" was officially approved, and China set aside an area of ​​more than 14,000 square kilometers across Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces to rebuild their homes for tigers and leopards.

"This is a turning point in the fate of the Siberian tiger." Feng Limin said.

In 2017, the Chinese government planned a total of 1.46 million hectares of land covering parts of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in areas bordering Russia and North Korea as a pilot area for the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park system.

Monitoring and analysis by the Suiyang Bureau of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration shows that under specific measures such as bans on logging and hunting, the local wild boar density in 2018 was 1.91 animals per square kilometer, an increase of 1.34 animals per square kilometer compared with 2011. Animals such as wild boars are the main food of wild Siberian tigers.

The Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park was officially established in October 2021, spanning Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. It is reported that in order to achieve scientific and comprehensive protection of the region, the Manchurian Tiger and Leopard National Park has established a "three-level grid" protection system of the administration - branch - forest farm, and has also built a globally unified SMART patrol management database.

In recent years, Heilongjiang Province has rescued the construction of a number of nature reserves to protect wild animals such as Siberian tigers and leopards, comprehensively implemented natural forest protection and wetland protection and restoration projects, repaired the migration and dispersal corridors of Siberian tigers and leopards, and improved habitats. and ecological corridor habitat conditions.

Compared with Siberia, where Russian tigers and leopards frequently roam, the population density in Northeast China is much higher. There are nearly 100,000 residents living in the pilot area of ​​the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park System.

Coexistence also requires symbiosis. "Tiger advances and people retreat" means that the residents living here have to give up their production and lifestyle of "depending on the mountains and eating the mountains" such as underforest planting and grazing. The Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park adapts measures to local conditions and actively explores social transformation, personnel transfer and sustainable development. The park plans to set up more than 10,000 public welfare positions to allow residents to transition to forest management and resource monitoring, and simultaneously develop alternative industries, relying on ecological experience, franchising and the tertiary industry to guide the transformation of local residents.

At this year's press conference, Hu Yuting, deputy secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee and governor, said that there are more than 50 wild Siberian tigers in Jilin Province, double the number in 2017, and the number of special species has doubled in five years. Now there are new tiger and leopard cubs every year, and a relatively stable breeding population has been formed. In the Hunchun area, located in the core area of ​​the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, you often encounter "road tigers". They not only appear in surveillance cameras, but are also often encountered by tourists walking through some scenic roads, which shows that the number is considerable.

In recent years, there have been many traces of wild Siberian tigers. Do you still remember "Wandashan No. 1"?

In April 2021, "Wandashan No. 1" suddenly broke into Linhu Village, Baiyuwan Town, Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, and also caused injuries. Later, the tiger was sent away after being anesthetized with a tranquilizer gun by the staff. It found its way back in August of that year.

In 2023, during routine patrols, staff from the protected area management office of Muling Forestry Bureau Co., Ltd. of Longjiang Forestry Group once again discovered the wild Siberian tiger "Wandashan No. 1" through a field infrared camera at the national level of Northeast yew. Clear images of activities in the core area of ​​the nature reserve and the Muling Park of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park.

According to Dr. Zhao Yue from the Feline Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of Northeast Forestry University, the Siberian tiger shown in the video was photographed in April 2023. After comparison, it was found to be the one previously released in the Muling Forest Area. "Wandashan No. 1", judging from the picture, its fur is shiny and it is much stronger than before.

It is worth noting that at the end of last year, traces of wild Siberian tigers foraging for food were found several times in Northeast China. In November 2023, large wild animals came down the mountain to look for food in Yilan County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. Experts from the local forestry and grassland department analyzed traces on the site and other factors and confirmed that the wild animal was a Siberian tiger, a national first-level protected animal.

In December 2023, an extremely rare incident of a Siberian tiger preying on a Siberian leopard occurred in Hunchun, Jilin. The perpetrator was initially determined to be an adult male Siberian tiger. The Hunchun Forest Public Security Bureau stated that it is precisely because of the recovery and increase in the Siberian tiger population that the rare natural phenomenon of tigers preying on leopards has occurred.

As wild Siberian tigers frequently appear in human settlements, mitigating human-tiger conflicts in tiger protected areas has become an important issue.

Zhang Minghai, dean of the School of Wildlife Resources of Northeast Forestry University and director of the Feline Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration who has long been engaged in tiger protection work, proposed the "Manchurian Tiger-Friendly Forest Management Model" as early as 10 years ago, which is to protect tigers. The protection measures should not affect forest management and forest production activities. At the same time, forest management and forestry production should also minimize the impact on tiger activities, ultimately achieving the common development of humans and tigers and creating a better ecological environment for the reproduction of Siberian tigers.

In order to prevent "human-tiger conflicts", Heilongjiang continues to strengthen the construction of wildlife emergency rescue teams, improve emergency personnel, vehicles and other equipment, carry out professional training, and at the same time increase patrol monitoring, mountain clearing and other protection efforts to strengthen "human-tiger conflicts". "Proactive early warning, prevention and control. The "Measures for Compensation of Personal Injuries and Property Loss Caused by Terrestrial Wild Animals in Heilongjiang Province" will be issued in October 2021, which will compensate for personal injuries and property losses...

The protection of Siberian tigers in my country still has a long way to go. Faced with the death of 20 Siberian tigers, we must deeply reflect on human attitudes and behaviors towards wild animals. Only by truly respecting nature and cherishing life can we achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature.