Human-animal tensions escalate in Qinghai
- By Chen Boyuan
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 25, 2014
By contrast, local herdsmen have more tolerance for wolves and snow leopards because Niga believed that wolves normally do not attack people, they just prey on cows and sheep; and snow leopards, which eat a larger variety of food, would only attack livestock when they are really desperate.
Twenty four-year-old Sangding and his family live by the River Zha. He said while he was grazing cattle, sometimes wolves came and ate the cows on the other side of the hill. "We have to live with that. It's a natural phenomenon and there's nothing to feel angry about," he said calmly.
Locals' tolerance for wolves and snow mountains also comes from their reverence to snowy mountains, such as the Animaqin Snow Mountain, a key protected area in the River’s Source Natural Reserve. There, herdsmen regard wolves as the guard dogs of mountain gods and snow leopards as the emblems of mountain gods.
The lack of food may be a reason why some of the animals have turned against humans, said Niga. Along with urbanization, the number of livestock on the pasture dropped.
"The government encourages us to restore the original ecological environment; in response, many people have relocated to cities, which is also good for their children's education. Without enough cows and sheep to prey on, bears have to attack houses," he said.
Zaduo used to have up to one million livestock animals, he said, but the number has declined to around 40,000. Furthermore, people's ignorance in their careless blunder into animals' territories is another reason for the intensifying human-beast conflict, Niga said.
To compensate for the losses caused by wild animals, the Qinghai provincial government enacted a relief plan in September 2011. But the implementation of the plan seems complicated, even to staff members working in conservation centers.
For example, after a bear attack incident that involved one human death last year, staff members from the forestry department failed to find the "suspected assailant" -- a key piece of evidence in the compensation application -- after days of searching.
Meanwhile, the herdsmen said that they do not care too much about compensation plans, but wanted the government to take more protective measures to prevent losses, and they do not have to "harm nationally protected animals, such as Tibetan blue bears" to keep themselves safe.
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