Ecological crisis of fireflies
4hw.org: from May to October every year, there is a "peak season" for selling fireflies. When traders see the business opportunities of fireflies, they catch and sell them in large quantities. According to relevant people, the number of fireflies sold online is amazing, which leads to a large number of hours of domestic fireflies on the brink of extinction!
But this year, Yue Hua, a member of the endangered species fund and co sponsor of the firefly ecosystem, was in a good mood, because at the end of last month, taobao.com included live wild fireflies in the category of prohibited commodity management, and he was excited to send a screenshot to his friend circle.
In recent years, Yuehua and his partners have been committed to the protection of fireflies and trying to dig the hidden interest chain. Taobao's announcement, in his view, blocked a key channel of "wild capture - sale - Commercial Exhibition".
At the same time, Fu Xinhua, an associate professor of the school of plant science and technology of Huazhong Agricultural University, who is known as "the first person in China's firefly research and protection", admitted in an interview: "the overall population of fireflies in China has declined rapidly, and some species are endangered, which is in a very dangerous situation. This article is compiled by sihai.com.cn and reprinted with reference to the source. The original link: http://www.4hw.com.cn/life/
In the next two weeks, Shunfeng and other express companies have successively closed the live firefly transportation business. The protection of fireflies has given people hope this year.
Because the business form of firefly artificial breeding is unknown, and the relevant culture certificate management system is also more localized, taobao.com does not have the exact audit ability for this. Therefore, if the seller claims that it is an artificial breeding product, taobao.com will not accept it as a wild product disposal. "After seeing the news of taobao.com, Yuehua was very excited. It seemed that she saw the hope that fireflies would fly all over the sky at night like in the past. This article is compiled by sihai.com.cn and reprinted with the source. The original link: http://www.4hw.com.cn/life/
In the past ten years, the population and species of this small insect have decreased significantly, almost disappeared from people's sight. According to Fu Xinhua, 95% of urban children have not seen fireflies, and almost 99% of rural people think fireflies are pests.
Yuehua also found that in addition to some remote mountainous areas, fireflies, which are known as "environmental indicator organisms", were almost disappeared in many places due to pesticide pollution and other problems. On the contrary, more and more commercial activities begin to appear firefly releasing links, and even 'artificial firefly theme park' will attract people.
'it's not flying, it's accelerating its death, even its disappearance. 'Yuehua and many environmentalists are disgusted with this. Human capture and trafficking is a new threat to fireflies.
Fu Xinhua mentioned in the 2016 investigation report of China's live firefly trade (hereinafter referred to as the "report") that the field firefly capture areas in 2016 were mainly concentrated in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Tunchang, Hainan and Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, basically consistent with the survey results in 2015 and 2014. Yuehua found that in addition to the above three places, there are also the surrounding areas of Nanning in Guangxi and Jinghong in Yunnan.
According to relevant statistics, from 2014 to 2016, the cities that held firefly releasing activities were mainly concentrated in South China, central China, North China and central China, and the number of cities held each year was increasing. In the past three years, Guangdong and Zhejiang ranked first in Firefly business activities.
In the morning of Taobao's announcement, the reporter could also search for information about the shop selling fireflies on Taobao. Taobao page information shows that the main delivery places are Zhejiang, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other places, while in fact, the fireflies sold are from Jiangxi, Yunnan and other places. After the ban notice was issued, most of the stores related to live fireflies had been removed from the shelves.
Yuehua's hometown is in Ningdu County, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, one of the sources of this chain, which is an important export place for catching and selling fireflies in China.
He said that the trading channels of fireflies are divided into online and offline channels. This article is compiled by sihai.com.cn and reprinted with the source. The original link: http://www.4hw.com.cn/life/
'Xiaobu town in Ningdu should be an important source of firefly catching and selling industry in China. "For the firefly industry chain, Yuehua has been following it for two years.
Before 2015, people had not resisted fireflies so much. Yuehua could easily find the earliest fireflies' head 'in Ningdu.
Through contact with "insect head", middleman and villagers, Yuehua found that "insect head" is to buy fireflies in surrounding villages, with the price of 0.5-1 yuan each.
At first, no one believed that fireflies could sell money, but when the "insect head" invited some villagers to dinner, sent free net bags for catching insects and paid money on the spot, the army of catching insects increased rapidly. This article is compiled by sihai.com.cn and reprinted with the source. The original link: http://www.4hw.com.cn/life/
Yuehua and Fu Xinhua have both seen in the investigation that in the evening, groups of villagers with their children rode to the fields in the mountains with motorcycles. They kept flashing tail lights of motorcycles to attract fireflies, so that they could kill all the fireflies. The purpose of fireflies' lighting and directional light was to mate and reproduce. Such a killing soon cut off the population continuity. '
After catching enough adults and larvae of fireflies, the catcher will send them directly to the "head" for cash. The "insect head" hired people to sort the fireflies into mineral water bottles at home. Each bottle contained about 50-100 fireflies, and then put some twigs and wet paper towels smeared with honey to ensure the survival of the fireflies. This article is compiled by sihai.com.cn and reprinted with reference to the source. The original link: http://www.4hw.com.cn/life/
'for online sales, the most expensive one is 3-5 yuan, and the cheapest one is about 1.5 yuan. "Yuehua said that if the number of buyers is small, the fireflies will be sent by express delivery or intercity bus; if the number is large, the fireflies will be sent by 'insect head' car, because after being caught, the survival time of the fireflies is very short. During transportation, the average mortality rate is 22.52%, and the highest mortality rate is even 75.8%.
Later, there was a lot of resistance. The & lsquo; insect heads & rsquo; set up a shed near their home, claiming that fireflies were farmed. "Yue Hua said, but in fact, it is still captured in the wild. Fu Xinhua masters the breeding methods, but the cost of each firefly is as high as 20 or 30 yuan, and 'it is impossible to make money by breeding. The report also shows that in 2016, there were 49 online stores operating and selling live fireflies on Taobao, an increase of 28.9% over the previous year, which has formed a very complete industrial chain of "live firefly capture acquisition online transaction offline wholesale distribution firefly in scenic spots or parks". Most of Taobao's so-called 'own firefly farm' shipments are lies.
Some "wormheads" have come to me before, so I can stop investigating and suggest that we can work together to earn money. "Yue Hua refused. He learned that last year, it was conservatively estimated that more than 6 million fireflies were sold, and that the large" insect head "could make a profit of 600000-1 million per year depending on this industry. These fireflies are eventually used in the opening of real estate, park theme activities, weddings and other occasions.
Firefly protection is currently unavailable
Liang xingcai, executive deputy director of Kunming Animal Museum, Kunming Institute of zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has warned that China's fireflies are disappearing rapidly from south to north, among which Qinghai, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and other provinces have difficulty in collecting samples. As early as November 2007, at the high-level forum of the Eurasian Natural History Museum held in Tianjin, experts attending the meeting said: China's fireflies are in danger of extinction.
'the larva of firefly is to eat the snails and snails that are harmful to crops, which is beneficial. "But the impact of human capture and trafficking on the population of fireflies is very direct. Yuehua, for example, in 2014, farmers in Xiaobu town of Ningdu were able to catch 1000 fireflies every night; by 2016, only about 300 fireflies could be caught every night, and only in remote areas.
'the extinction of human capture caused by the firefly trade (the capture rate is more than 60%), which is a heavy blow to the firefly population. "Because fireflies are not protected animals in China, no one has been included in the list of animal protection. Fu Xinhua hopes that there are laws to protect fireflies, and promotes local governments to list some rare areas where fireflies live as protected areas.
'the overall situation in Zhejiang is much better than that in surrounding provinces. On the one hand, it has a strong sense of environmental protection, and on the other hand, it has good natural conditions. "Previously, Fu Xinhua also inspected Xixi wetland, and found that there are still many kinds of fireflies in the area, at least more than 6. However, there are still practical problems. The lack of laws and regulations in China makes the protection of fireflies more difficult. Yue Hua and others can only rely on propaganda and communication to dissuade, but in front of money, the effect is very small.
'at present, fireflies are not protected species, so neither the agriculture and Forestry Bureau nor the animal husbandry bureau will manage them. "Although the State Forestry Administration is constantly calling for protection, the situation of fireflies is still worrying. Yuehua feels deeply about this. When they call for or stop fireflies' commercial flight activities, they often encounter various embarrassments." from catching traffickers to organizers of commercial activities, even a lot of officials of the agriculture, forestry and environmental protection departments don't understand our approach. In their view, this is just catching fireflies Just a few bugs. '
From the traffickers to the organizers of commercial activities, they don't understand our practice. In their eyes, it's just catching a few bugs.