Cctv news(Reporter/Du Anqi Li Dongxu): Recently, the incident of wild monkeys entering the English village in Wanning, Hainan Province, causing injuries has attracted attention. As of April 9, a total of 9 people in the village were injured and sent to hospital. The monkey not only attacked the villagers, but also tried to take the baby away. Fortunately, it was found and stopped in time. Wanning City Natural Resources and Planning Bureau said that the wounded monkeys were wild macaques, with two big monkeys, two small monkeys and four small monkeys.
A local villager told CCTV News+that since 2023, this group of monkeys have often been seen wandering around. "I saw it in the morning, but I couldn’t see it at noon. If I want to get closer, it will run away." According to the villagers, monkey injuries mostly occur when people are resting and sleeping. "It will bite you when you sleep. Now all the windows and doors are closed and it is not allowed to enter." In the face of monkeys, children are in a weaker position than adults, and babies are almost taken away by monkeys in the village. For safety reasons, some villagers send their children who have not yet reached school age to relatives in other places.
"The English Village in Wanning City, Hainan Province is very close to Nanwan Monkey Island in Linshui County. The population density of macaques on the island is very high, exceeding 1,300 as early as 2007." Zhou Jiang, a professor at the Karst Research Institute of Guizhou Normal University, analyzed. In addition, there are many nature reserves in Wanning City, Hainan Province, among which Dahuajiao Scienc Spot Provincial Nature Reserve is only 4.5 kilometers away from English Village.
Zhou Jiang told the CCTV News+reporter: "In recent years, with the promotion of various eco-environmental protection policies, the quality of some typical ecosystems has been significantly improved. For example, macaque is an indicator species of evergreen broad-leaved forest ecosystem, and the growth of macaque population shows that its habitat has been protected and restored to a certain extent. This has also caused some wild animal populations to overflow. "
With the further improvement of the ecological environment, the phenomenon of "invasion" of wild monkeys not only occurred in rural areas, but also began to appear in cities. On April 8, groups of monkeys also broke into students’ dormitories in Shihu Campus of Suzhou University of Science and Technology, rummaging for food in garbage bags, leaving the dormitory corridor in a mess, and some students drove away with umbrellas.
"You can’t catch it, we just make a noise and press the car horn to catch it." A staff member of the school security department of Suzhou University of Science and Technology told CCTV News+that the monkeys who invaded the student dormitory came from Shangfangshan National Forest Park, and the school was separated from this park by a road. If the monkeys could not find food, they would run to the dormitory to "steal things". "They (monkeys) basically come every day, and there are more than 30." The staff of the security department said that additional staff had been sent to be on duty 24 hours a day to immediately drive away the intruding monkeys.
In addition, CCTV News+reporter learned that it was not the first time that Wanning English Village and Suzhou University of Science and Technology Shihu Campus were invaded by monkeys. People can only drive away monkeys by making noise, and monkeys will return to frequent harassment after leaving a certain range. In this regard, Zhou Jiang analyzed: "Animals that are dangerous to human beings or bring certain risks are mainly distributed in various nature reserves, such as provincial and national nature reserves or national forest parks. These places need to pay special attention to prevent conflicts between humans and animals. "
In response to questions raised by netizens, such as "whether some wild animals are over-protected" and "how do people and wild animals coexist", CCTV News+reporter contacted Director Liu Hongyan of the Ecological Law Research Office of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He introduced: "The contradiction between wild animals and people is a historic issue. The original planning of protected areas is usually far away from cities, or at least at a certain distance from human settlements. The acceleration of urbanization in these years has led to the gradual coexistence of people and animals in areas far away from wild animals in the past, and the disharmony between people and wild animals is particularly obvious. " Liu Hongyan believes that this conflict is not universal. Wild animals enter human settlements, live in harmony with people, and people treat animals well. This is the harmonious scene we pursue.
Lawyer Hu Hanbing of Guangqiang Law Firm also said that the contradiction between wild animals and residents is still a problem of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. The appearance of wild animals in human activity areas shows that the overall ecological environment in China is improving. According to the Wild Animal Protection Law, "people only need to pay attention to avoiding wild animals that are generally harmless; For harmful wild animals, if the population obviously exceeds the environmental capacity, population control measures such as ex-situ protection and hunting can be taken when necessary to ensure personal and property safety, ecological safety and agricultural production. "
In dealing with wild animals, Liu Hongyan mentioned that when wild animals pose a threat to our personal safety and even life safety, we should take life safety as the first priority. In response to the incident of monkey harassment, he said that the measures to drive away monkeys can be implemented through sprays and whistles or other non-lethal tools. "It may not be purely attacking you, but more robbing you of food. In this case, we can avoid retreating as much as possible and avoid the direct attack of monkeys. "
In view of how to prevent wild animals from attacking people, Liu Hongyan also suggested that the local government should establish an early warning system and improve the emergency plan for wildlife invasion.
At present, a patrol team consisting of more than 100 people, including police officers, grid workers, town cadres, village cadres and vigilantes, has been set up in Wanning City, and patrols the places where monkeys appear in three shifts every day. As early as December 2013, Suzhou Forestry Bureau conducted a pilot project of wildlife damage insurance in Shihu Scenic Area, a national scenic spot in Taihu Lake. About how wildlife and humans get along, the two places are gradually exploring. With the monkey intrusion incident coming into public view, the familiar topic of "man and nature" has also brought more new thoughts.