Among the people, pig badgers never seemed to be a popular animal, because they would harm crops, so everyone once shouted about it.
But in 2000, the hog badger was included in the list of protected animals on the mainland, why such a change?
1. "Pest Beast" or "Baby"?
It is said that the famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi, was named "Badger Lang" because on the day he was born, a little badger ran into the house.
This theory arose after Wang Anshi's death, and there is also controversy about what kind of badger is the "badger" here, but many scholars believe that it is a pig badger, such as Kang Zhen.
So whether this statement is true or not, there is no conclusive evidence for the time being, but many people think that it is apocryphal, because from the Southern Song Dynasty to modern times, in the mainstream concept, the evaluation of Wang Anshi is far more derogatory than positive.
"Badger" is an insulting name.
From this short story, we can get a glimpse of the ancients' attitude towards pig badgers, as for the reason, the most important thing is that they harm farmland.
Hog badgers are widely distributed on the mainland, especially in the southern regions, where they do not have high habitat requirements and can survive in grasslands, shrublands, and farmland.
The main reason why badgers cause harm to farmland is that their activities trample on crops and eat crops such as corn, wheat, and peanuts, resulting in reduced crop yields.
In Lu Xun's novel "Hometown", the "Ru" that the leap soil in the melon field is actually a badger, but the mainstream saying is that it is a dog badger.
Because of the harm to agricultural production, pig badgers have never been treated well by farmers, so even if they look cute and cute, they have been reduced to a situation where everyone shouts and beats.
Because of this, hog badgers are being hunted in large numbers, resulting in a rapid decline in the number of races, and of course, it is not all their fault for being killed.
Although hog badgers are a light hazard to farmland, they also have valuable points, such as people like to eat their meat, and their needle hair can be made into brushes or decorations, and their skins can be made into leather clothes or mattresses.
If you think about it, the whole body of the hog badger is a treasure that can be fully utilized by humans.
In addition, the destruction of the ecological environment and the frequent occurrence of natural disasters have also contributed to the decline of the number of pig badgers.
In 2015, the hog badger was listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and as early as 2000, the mainland included it in the list of "three haves" wild animals.
The so-called "three haves", that is, beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value, but what are the benefits and values of the living pig badger to human beings?
First of all, in addition to crops, the pig badger's diet also includes earthworms, loaches, yellow eels, mole crickets and rodents, which are beneficial to agricultural and animal husbandry production.
Secondly, hog badgers are burrowing animals, even if they live in farmland and wasteland, they will burrow and inhabit and mate in burrows.
As they burrow, the soil is loosened to facilitate aeration, and when they abandon their burrows, the burrows can become habitats for other animals, which is beneficial to species diversity.
Therefore, objectively speaking, in the current mainstream cognition, the badger is not a "pest beast", but should be protected and intervened by humans, but even if it is expressly prohibited by laws and regulations, hunting and killing activities still occur from time to time......
2. Protection of pig badgers
Around 2021, because crops are often damaged by pig badgers, Tao, a farmer in Sichuan, bought a hunting clip and successfully captured a pig badger.
Later, Tao sold the wild pig badger to Tang, and Tang and others divided the pig badger and ate it.
In the end, Tao was sentenced to two months' detention for illegal hunting, his illegal gains were confiscated, and he was ordered to compensate 800 yuan for the loss of national wildlife resources.
Illegal killing of wild pig badgers is bound to be punished, so are pig badgers allowed to be farmed?
In 2020, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration issued the Notice on Regulating the Scope of Classified Management of Wild Animals Prohibited from Eating, which clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to breed badgers for the purpose of eating.
But it also said that it is allowed to be used for non-edible purposes such as medicine, display, and scientific research.
As the old saying goes, "Feng Shui takes turns", the times are evolving, and people's views on something are not static, just like the pig badger from a pest animal to a protected animal, the times are different, and the concept may be diametrically opposed.
Another example is Wang Anshi, known as "Badger Lang", who has been suppressed by the government for nearly a thousand years, who knows that in modern times, Liang Qichao will "overturn the case"?
Resources:
Douyin Encyclopedia - Pig Badger
Red Star News "Crops are often destroyed by badgers, a villager in Peng'an, Sichuan Province captures badgers and sells them and is sentenced for illegal hunting"
The Paper "National Forestry and Grassland Administration: 45 Species of Wild Animals such as Bamboo Rats and Civet Cats Will Be Stopped Breeding by the End of this Year"