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Thursday, August 22, 2019, 17:42
Conflict escalates between humans and elephants
By Hou Liqiang in Mengla, Yunnan
Thursday, August 22, 2019, 17:42 By Hou Liqiang in Mengla, Yunnan

Monitor uses drones to check on animals' whereabouts

Elephants invade farmland in Menghai county, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province. (PHOTO / MENG'A FORESTRY AND GRASSLAND BUREAU)

When Wu Junhui visits Nanha, a community in Yunnan province, he always attracts crowds of curious villagers, whether he arrives in the small hours or during the day.

The size of his audience can range from about 10 people to all of the community's population of around 40.

Wu monitors elephants by using unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, and the first question the residents ask him is if he has seen one animal in particular, which some villagers refer to as the "naughty one". Others have nicknamed it "the terrorist".

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 University

The male Asian elephant, which Wu estimates weighs more than 2 metric tons, is worthy of its reputation.

On Aug 4, it entered an urban area of Mengla county, where the Nanha community is located. Videos uploaded to the internet by local residents show the animal roaming the streets, leaving huge footprints in some unpaved areas, and even trying to climb a low wall. It placed its front feet on the wall a number of times before giving up.

More than 30 police officers were tasked with ensuring the elephant did not enter densely populated areas and cause injuries.

But this elephant has been far from being merely naughty. According to local authorities, in May, it killed a villager working on a rubber plantation who tried to scare it away, and in December it kicked and seriously injured another resident.

These incidents are just two examples of the seemingly escalating 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 establish 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 number of elephants in China has doubled to about 300, and since 2013, they have caused more than 60 deaths and injuries. Damage to property caused by the animals from 2011 to last year is estimated at more than 170 million yuan (US$24.2 million), according to the Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, under whose jurisdiction Mengla county falls, is one of the elephants' primary habitats. They can also be found in Pu'er and Lincang, Yunnan.

The animals search for food in Mengla, Xishuangbanna. (PHOTO / MENG'A FORESTRY AND GRASSLAND BUREAU)

The Asian elephant, which is included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species as "endangered", 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 rubber 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 checking 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 jungle.

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 Jinghong, Xishuangbanna's capital, on protecting the Asian elephant, leaving Wu as the sole monitor with experience of operating a drone.

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 village in the evening, he was welcomed enthusiastically by the residents, with many of them inviting him to their homes for tea.

Wild elephants are often seen roaming the streets in Menghai county, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province. (PHOTO / MENG’A FORESTRY AND GRASSLAND BUREAU)

The rogue elephant munched on unripe sugarcane, rice and banana trees in a field near the Nanha community. "It is very picky about food. It only eats the center part of a banana tree, which is the most tender," he said, adding that villagers will be compensated for the damage the animal caused.

Since 2014, the Yunnan provincial government has taken out insurance 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 protection division of the Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Administration, said, "They have become important shelters for Asian elephants."

Nanha lies next to the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, which includes seven subreserves that cover a total of more than 240,000 hectares.

However, Chen Mingyong, a professor with the Asian Elephant Research Center at Yunnan University, said about two-thirds of the wild elephants are now living outside the reserves because the increasing forest canopy density has resulted in food shortages.

This has meant that plant distribution has changed. Woodland plants have been gradually taking over territory previously shared by wild banana trees and Thysanolaena maxima, a perennial grass plant.

Chen said, "Once they can't get their fill, some elephants will seek food outside the reserves, and conflicts 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. "Infrastructure projects such as highways and dams have also intensified conflicts between humans and elephants."

(Left) Wild elephants are often seen roaming the streets in Menghai county, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province; Wu Junhui, left, monitors elephants with unmanned aerial vehicles at the Nanha community in Yunnan. (PHOTO / MENG’A FORESTRY, GRASSLAND BUREAU AND HOU LIQIANG / CHINA DAILY)

Along the road connecting Nanha to the outside world, rubber trees can be seen in many places, with the villagers mainly relying on the commodity for a living.

When Wu set up his monitoring equipment, this quiet rural area became a little busier. Villagers, some of them holding children, surrounded him, their eyes fixed on a screen showing real-time footage from the drone.

Many said they were concerned about the whereabouts of the animal that had been plaguing the area, as their habit of working at night meant it was difficult to notice approaching elephants in sufficient time.

Wu said the early-warning monitoring system would help him to tell the rangers if any elephants had entered the areas they were responsible 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. However, 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 downpour occurred and the elephant entered a jungle-shrouded mountainous 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 daughter 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 ranger on the other side of the mountains 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.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn


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