 Villager fights to protect wildlife and people
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-25 07:18 Wen Shihua, a 67-year-old farmer, established a protection zone in his village to shelter "little egrets," a graceful species of white heron. But now villagers accuse him of having contributed to an environmental hazard - because the birds destroy crops and leave droppings in the streets. "There were no egrets in our village and I made a decision to protect the birds in order to let them stay in the village," said Wen, who established the egret protection zone in 1992. He was then the director of the villagers' committee of Shibanya, a mountainous village in Chongqing municipality, in southwest China. "At first, my purpose of protecting the birds was simple: to promote our economic development by taking advantage of the bird protection," Wen said. He had been inspired by a TV program about an egret protection zone in Sichuan province that had become a lucrative tourist attraction. "I wanted to learn from the people to let my villagers get rich," Wen said. With this idea, Wen held a villagers conference and took measures to build a better environment for the birds. "We stipulated that firecrackers were banned in our village, because the sound might frighten the birds; fishing was banned around our village, to provide enough food resource for the birds; and hunting was also banned, to let the birds live safely and comfortably in our mountains," Wen said. Indeed, more and more little egrets came to nest in the area around the village. "Wen made a way to lead us to have a better living," said Zhou Huaqing, 73, a villager in Wen's hometown. However, with the growth in the bird population, other problems ensued. Some villagers complained that the birds destroyed their crops and their droppings polluted local wells. "The birds made some troubles to villagers in both living and production," Wen admitted. However, he is not ready to abandon his mission. "I do not have regrets, and I will continue to protect the birds," he said. Wen does not believe that he should have to choose between helping the wildlife and helping the people. "I hope experts can provide us a better solution to decrease villagers' suffering, while allowing us to continue the protection of these birds." Chongqing Evening News (China Daily 06/25/2008 page6) |
