A little trouble in big China? (Our closest wild elephants)
I feel a trip coming on, my feet are itching, there's something happening close by that I think I should know more about - yes, there's a tonne of work to be done in camp and around the hotel but I'm also finding time to search through all my old newswire pieces - things that caught my eye back in the whirlwind of high season and filed in the recesses of my C:/ drive under look-at-later.
Wild Chinese elephants? To tell the truth I've known of both the herds covered below (I believe there are two separate populations) for a while and have been looking to get up there.
The first one covered in the piece below is perhaps the most intriguing because I am physically watching the wet season mist bubble over the top and run lava like into the Mekong of the far South Western corner of their potential (OK - highly theoretical but indulge me) range as I type.
They find themselves, as it says in the piece, shared with Laos and basically still wild in the Bokeo, Nam Ha, Nam Fa reserves and a forgotten little back-water of China in what is now the real romantic Golden Triangle: where Laos, Burma and the Dai (or Shan in English, Thai Yai in Thai) autonomous region meet; between the ex-Shan state of Xishuanbanna (Sipsong Pan Na - 12,000 rice fields in Thai - given to the Chinese by the British to keep French hands off it back in the day) and the Laos city state town of Muang Sing - where the colonial mapping expeditions met and had what must have a decidedly prickly black tie dinner.
The second population - which I also want to visit but not quite with the same passion - where I believe the publicised 'attacks' occurred are in the famous Elephant Valley north of the city of Jing Hong (Chiang Rung in Thai) where wild elephants and the tour buses of mass Chinese tourism (up in Jing Hong you can buy "Welcome to Thailand" and my, even poorer than today, 2004 Thai was good for communication) allegedly meet.
The elephants are still wild but apparently sightings can be more or less guaranteed for hundreds of people a day; I'm interested to see how it is handled and just how wild they really are - doesn't sound like my cup of tea but if it raises money to keep wild elephants in the wild, who am I to argue?
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In addition to sharing a border – and the Mekong River – with Laos, Yunnan province also shares China's last herd of Asian elephants, which in recent years has dwindled to only 400 elephants. The herd lives in nature reserves near the border between China and Laos.
This week the Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department met with their counterparts from Laos in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture to discuss ways to protect the endangered Asian elephant, which falls under China's grade-one protection for endangered animal species.
The representatives from China and Laos reached four major agreements:
1. To educate villagers about how to protect elephants
2. To tighten hunting gun controls
3. To draft a plan for cross-border elephant protection and apply for international funds, and
4. To plan next year's annual meeting in Laos
There are roughly 30,000 Asian elephants left in South and Southeast Asia. Asian elephants average 3.2 meters in height and more than five tons. The animals spend most of their days looking for food, understandable considering that they require around 300 kilograms of it each day.
Although it is less populated than other parts of China, Xishuangbanna is still feeling the impact of China's rapid economic development. Elephants, normally docile creatures, are known to attack when feeling encroached upon by humans. In the last few weeks, there have been two elephant attacks upon humans in Xishuangbanna.
In January, American tourist Jeremy Allen McGill was seriously injured by an elephant attack which left him with eight broken bones and injuries to his lungs, stomach and intestines. Weeks later another elephant attack ended in fatality when on the night of Chinese New Year an elephant in Xishuangbanna attacked and killed Zeng Shaoping as he returned from holiday festivities.
Wild Chinese elephants? To tell the truth I've known of both the herds covered below (I believe there are two separate populations) for a while and have been looking to get up there.
The first one covered in the piece below is perhaps the most intriguing because I am physically watching the wet season mist bubble over the top and run lava like into the Mekong of the far South Western corner of their potential (OK - highly theoretical but indulge me) range as I type.
They find themselves, as it says in the piece, shared with Laos and basically still wild in the Bokeo, Nam Ha, Nam Fa reserves and a forgotten little back-water of China in what is now the real romantic Golden Triangle: where Laos, Burma and the Dai (or Shan in English, Thai Yai in Thai) autonomous region meet; between the ex-Shan state of Xishuanbanna (Sipsong Pan Na - 12,000 rice fields in Thai - given to the Chinese by the British to keep French hands off it back in the day) and the Laos city state town of Muang Sing - where the colonial mapping expeditions met and had what must have a decidedly prickly black tie dinner.
The second population - which I also want to visit but not quite with the same passion - where I believe the publicised 'attacks' occurred are in the famous Elephant Valley north of the city of Jing Hong (Chiang Rung in Thai) where wild elephants and the tour buses of mass Chinese tourism (up in Jing Hong you can buy "Welcome to Thailand" and my, even poorer than today, 2004 Thai was good for communication) allegedly meet.
The elephants are still wild but apparently sightings can be more or less guaranteed for hundreds of people a day; I'm interested to see how it is handled and just how wild they really are - doesn't sound like my cup of tea but if it raises money to keep wild elephants in the wild, who am I to argue?
_________________________________
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In addition to sharing a border – and the Mekong River – with Laos, Yunnan province also shares China's last herd of Asian elephants, which in recent years has dwindled to only 400 elephants. The herd lives in nature reserves near the border between China and Laos.
This week the Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department met with their counterparts from Laos in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture to discuss ways to protect the endangered Asian elephant, which falls under China's grade-one protection for endangered animal species.
The representatives from China and Laos reached four major agreements:
1. To educate villagers about how to protect elephants
2. To tighten hunting gun controls
3. To draft a plan for cross-border elephant protection and apply for international funds, and
4. To plan next year's annual meeting in Laos
There are roughly 30,000 Asian elephants left in South and Southeast Asia. Asian elephants average 3.2 meters in height and more than five tons. The animals spend most of their days looking for food, understandable considering that they require around 300 kilograms of it each day.
Although it is less populated than other parts of China, Xishuangbanna is still feeling the impact of China's rapid economic development. Elephants, normally docile creatures, are known to attack when feeling encroached upon by humans. In the last few weeks, there have been two elephant attacks upon humans in Xishuangbanna.
In January, American tourist Jeremy Allen McGill was seriously injured by an elephant attack which left him with eight broken bones and injuries to his lungs, stomach and intestines. Weeks later another elephant attack ended in fatality when on the night of Chinese New Year an elephant in Xishuangbanna attacked and killed Zeng Shaoping as he returned from holiday festivities.
KUNMING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- An American tourist was seriously injured after he was apparently attacked by wild Asian elephants roaming in a nature reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Thursday, officials confirmed on Sunday.
Photo taken on Jan. 26 shows this group of elephants that launched an offensive to the American tourist are seen in the "Wild Elephant Valley" in the Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province. An American tourist was seriously injured after he was apparently attacked by wild Asian elephants roaming in the nature reserve on Thursday. He was under intensive care at the central hospital of Xishuangbanna and was out of danger according to the foreign affairs office of the province.(Xinhua Photo)
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Jeremy Allen McGill, who teaches English at Huazhong Agricultural University in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and arrived in Xishuangbanna for sightseeing on Wednesday, was under intensive care at the central hospital in the Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, the foreign affairs office in Xishuangbanna said.
McGill was found lying unconsciously on the ground at the "Wild Elephant Valley", a nature reserve 50 km from the nearest city of Jinghong, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, said Li Ling, a security guard.
"He was seriously wounded in the belly, apparently by elephants," said Li, who was patrolling the area. "Three elephants were roaming within 20 meters from where he was."
McGill received several operations on Thursday night. Doctors said he was also injured in the lungs and had several fractured ribs.
Officials from the Huazhong Agricultural University, who arrived in Yunnan on Friday, said they were trying to get in touch with McGill's family.
The "Wild Elephant Valley" is a 370-hectare reserve featuring tropical forests, wild birds and animals. It has at least 30 wild elephants and was named one of China's 50 most recommended destinations for foreign tourists in 2006.
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Elephant kills man in China nature park
An elephant has killed a man in a Chinese nature reserve where an American tourist was earlier severely injured, the state news agency Xinhua said.
The animal attacked Zeng Shaoping on Wednesday as he returned home after celebrating the Lunar New Year with friends, the agency said, quoting the local Chuncheng Evening News.
Two of his friends raced to the scene when they heard trumpeting noises, and found him lying on the roadside.
An American living in China was severely injured by an elephant in the reserve, in Yunnan province in south-west China, in January.
Jeremy Allen McGill suffered eight broken bones and internal injuries to his lungs and intestines in the attack.
The report said elephants were generally peaceful creatures and only attacked when they felt threatened by other animals or humans encroaching on their territory.
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