PAGE TWO
2 | Thursday, August 22, 2019 CHINA DAILY
Village: Sleep lost
during search
It is so hot during the day in the
subtropical area that locals work on
their rubber plantations at night.
Wu chose to rest outside the village
to avoid disturbing those who sleep
in the day. When he entered the vil-
lage in the evening, he was wel-
comed enthusiastically by the
residents, with many of them invit-
ing him to their homes for tea.
The rogue elephant munched on
unripe sugarcane, rice and banana
trees in a field near the Nanha com-
munity. “It is very picky about food.
It only eats the center part of a
banana tree, which is the most ten-
der,” he said, adding that villagers
will be compensated for the damage
the animal caused.
Since 2014, the Yunnan provincial
government has taken out insur-
ance coverage against damage
caused by wild animals.
Yunnan has also established 11
nature reserves with a total area of
about 510,000 hectares. Xiang
Ruwu, head of the wildlife protec-
tion division of the Yunnan Forestry
and Grassland Administration, said,
“They have become important shel-
ters for Asian elephants.”
Nanha lies next to the Xishuang-
banna National Nature Reserve,
which includes seven subreserves
that cover a total of more than
240,000 hectares.
However, Chen Mingyong, a pro-
fessor with the Asian Elephant
Research Center at Yunnan Univer-sity, said about two-thirds of the
wild elephants are now living out-
side the reserves because the
increasing forest canopy density has
resulted in food shortages.
This has meant that plant distri-
bution has changed. Woodland
plants have been gradually taking
over territory previously shared by
wild banana trees and Thysanolae-
na maxima, a perennial grass plant.
Chen said, “Once they can’t get
their fill, some elephants will seek
food outside the reserves, and con-
flicts are unavoidable when their
activity overlaps with that of humans.
“In the past two decades, large areas
of fallow land outside the reserves
have been reclaimed to grow rubber,
tea and coffee,” Chen said. “Infrastruc-
ture projects such as highways and
dams have also intensified conflicts
between humans and elephants.”
Along the road connecting Nanha
to the outside world, rubber trees
can be seen in many places, with the
villagers mainly relying on the com-
modity for a living.
When Wu set up his monitoring
equipment, this quiet rural area
became a little busier. Villagers,
some of them holding children, sur-
rounded him, their eyes fixed on a
screen showing real-time footage
from the drone.
Many said they were concerned
about the whereabouts of the ani-
mal that had been plaguing the area,
as their habit of working at nightmeant it was difficult to notice
approaching elephants in sufficient
time.
Wu said the early-warning moni-
toring system would help him to tell
the rangers if any elephants had
entered the areas they were respon-
sible for, and if this was the case, he
would alert residents through
WeChat messaging.
The rogue elephant was found in
the evening on Aug 10 entering a
field about 100 meters from the
community to eat sugarcane. How-
ever, at about 11 pm, dogs suddenly
began barking, breaking the silence
in the mountain-ringed community,
and the elephant was soon heard
crashing around.
With the help of the drone’s heat-
sensor camera, Wu discovered that
the animal had crossed the road and
entered an area with many corn fields.
Many of the villagers were already
asleep, as they had to work in the
middle of the night, but even so, the
noise from the drone soon attracted
a group of more than 10.
Many asked, “Can we go to work
on our rubber farms?”
Diao Yongqing was one of those
watching real-time footage from the
drone. “Rubber is the only income
source for my family of four. We can
make 30,000 to 40,000 yuan a year
from it,” the 39-year-old said.
He added that he usually goes to
his farm after 2 am. “The first thing I
do after I am woken by the alarm
clock is to make phone calls to ask
where the elephant is. We are really
afraid of it.”
The monitoring continued until 4
am, when a brief but strong down-
pour occurred and the elephant
entered a jungle-shrouded moun-
tainous area without re-emerging.
Wu rushed to connect batteries
for his drones to the charger, but fell
asleep on a couch in a villager’s
home. “I normally use more than 20
batteries a night,” he said.
He restarted his monitoring work
after only two hours’ sleep, but
breathed a sigh of relief after finding
that the elephant had not returned
to the area from the jungle. “My
experience told me it would cross
the mountains, and that could take
two days,” he said.
Wu decided to return home to rest
with his wife and 2-year-old daugh-
ter in Jinghong, which is about
three hours away by car.
“The longest time I have been away
from home for monitoring work is six
months and 10 days,” he said.
On his way home, however, a ran-
ger on the other side of the moun-
tains called him and said he had
found fresh elephant footprints,
suggesting that the animal may
have crossed back already and
would need monitoring again.Li Yingqing and Xinhua News
Agency contributed to this story.A day in
the wilds
of Yunnan
leaves me
itching
for home
Days after returning from
reporting encounters between
humans and elephants in sub-
tropical Yunnan province, I am
still constantly scratching insect
bites, which are scattered all over
my body.
As I scratch away, I remember
the work being done by elephant
monitors, police officers and for-
estry and grassland administra-
tion officials. They often have to
toil round-the-clock to monitor
elephants, helping to minimize
their conflicts with humans by
sending early warnings to resi-
dents.
I was outdoors for only a day,
but it’s common for these teams
to do such work for days, with lit-
tle sleep.
My time with Wu Junhui, a
drone operator who monitors
wild elephants in Xishuangban-
na Dai autonomous prefecture,
was unforgettable. After joining
him at about 11 am on Aug 10,
the first problem I had was with
those pesky insects.
To prevent insects from
entering, Wu, who was catching
up on some sleep in his off-road
vehicle, left the window only
slightly open, which worked to
a certain extent, but it still felt
stuffy.
Few cars or trucks passed
through the area, where only
the rustling of leaves could be
heard for most of the time, but
the vehicles that did appear at
least produced a little breeze,
making it feel cooler momen-
tarily.
I was soon so hot that I had to
leave Wu’s vehicle to get some
fresh air, only to find that flying
insects welcomed the arrival of a
sweaty visitor.
They swarmed round my
head, constantly buzzing. My
efforts to repel them by waving
my arms were no use at all.
I became excited after discov-
ering a big leaf that I thought
would drive the insects away, but
this also failed to do the trick, so I
had no choice but to succumb to
their bites.
As night fell, the insects
stopped buzzing round my
head, but they still attacked all
the time. I don’t know how they
did it, but they seemed to have
the ability to bite clothed areas
of my body. Wu, who is used to
this problem, often has to sleep
in his vehicle.
I miss my 16-month-old son if I
don’t see him for some time, but
it’s not unusual for Wu to work
for a month without returning
home to his wife and 2-year-old
daughter.
I think the dedication of grass-
roots monitors such as Wu
reflects the central authorities’
determination to protect wild
animals and to promote environ-
mental awareness.
As I discovered in Nanha, a
rural community in Mengla
county where Wu monitored a
rogue elephant, the central lead-
ership’s philosophy on green
development has started to take
root.
When I asked senior resident
Li Shuncai for his opinion on
elephant protection, he quoted
the words of President Xi Jin-
ping, “Lucid water and lush
mountains are invaluable
assets.”
Li added, “It is illegal to cut
down trees and hurt animals in
the nature reserves.”
With the dedication of people
such as Wu and the increasing
awareness of those like Li, I
believe China can succeed in
realizing a harmonious
coexistence between humans
and nature.Hou
LiqiangReporter’s
LogThese incidents are just two
examples of the seemingly escalat-
ing conflict between humans and
wild elephants in China, with news
of people being killed by the animals
hitting the headlines frequently.
The use of drones to help estab-
lish an early-warning monitoring
system to avoid such incidents is
one of the latest attempts by local
authorities to minimize conflicts
between humans and elephants.
In the past three decades, the num-
ber of elephants in China has dou-
bled to about 300, and since 2013,
they have caused more than 60
deaths and injuries. Damage to prop-
erty caused by the animals from 2011
to last year is estimated at more than
170 million yuan ($24.2 million),
according to the Yunnan Forestry
and Grassland Administration.
Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous
prefecture, under whose jurisdic-
tion Mengla county falls, is one of
the elephants’ primary habitats.
They can also be found in Pu’er and
Lincang, Yunnan.
The Asian elephant, which is
included on the International Union
for Conservation of Nature Red List
of Threatened Species as “endan-
gered”, enjoys Class-A protection in
China, the same as that afforded to
the giant panda.
In the Nanha community at about
11 am on Aug 10, Wu was catching
up on some sleep in his off-road
vehicle in an area shrouded by rub-
ber trees and lush jungle. His pants,
T-shirt and socks, which were still
wet after being washed, were laid
out in the vehicle to dry. The white
T-shirt he was wearing was heavily
sweat-stained.
“I have only changed my clothes
twice in the past seven days,” the
34-year-old muttered while rubbing
his eyes, adding that after he washed
his clothes he had to continue check-
ing for elephants before they dried.
Wu returned to his hotel at about
3 am on Aug 10 for a short time after
finding that the elephant plaguing
Mengla county had entered the jun-
gle.
He had checked out of the hotel,
as he didn’t know when he would be
able to return.
From Aug 4 to 7, the intensive
nature of his work meant that he
had to sleep in his vehicle.
“I have to make full use of every
short break to get some sleep, as I
don’t know what will happen next,” he
said. While the elephant was in the
urban area, Wu said he was joined by
three officials from the local forestry
and grassland administration.
But that weekend, the officials
had to attend a conference in Jing-
hong, Xishuangbanna’s capital, on
protecting the Asian elephant, leav-
ing Wu as the sole monitor with
experience of operating a drone.
From page 1
In the past two
decades, large areas
of fallow land outside
the reserves have
been reclaimed to
grow rubber, tea and
coffee. Infrastructure
projects such as
highways and dams
have also intensified
conflicts between
humans and
elephants.”
Chen Mingyong, professor with
the Asian Elephant Research
Center at Yunnan UniversityTop: Elephants invade farmland in Menghai county, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province. Above: The
animals search for food in Mengla, Xishuangbanna. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MENG’A FORESTRY AND GRASSLAND BUREAULeft and right: Wild elephants are often seen roaming the streets in Menghai county, Xishuangbanna,
Yunnan province. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MENG’A FORESTRY AND GRASSLAND BUREAU Center: Wu Junhui, left, monitors
elephants with unmanned aerial vehicles at the Nanha community in Yunnan. HOU LIQIANG / CHINA DAILYCHINA DAILYYunnanXishuangbannaMengla