Unexpectedly, the pheasants we carefully protect are flooded in the UK, reaching more than 60 million.
In fact, every year the British spend a lot of money to offer a reward for hunting pheasants.
And the same kind of pheasant, in our country, if you want to catch it once to taste the game, it must be a silver bracelet.
Why is there such a big difference in the status of the same species in different countries?
The sources of information in this article are detailed at the end of the article, and details may be edited to improve the readability of the article.
Chinese pheasants
You may not think that the pheasant in the mountains is also a second-class protected animal in the mainland, and it is highly valued and protected by the state.
The reason is simple: in ancient times, pheasants were a symbol of good luck and peace, and this ancient tradition is still practiced today.
Both in urban and rural areas, people regard pheasants as mascots and give them a high degree of awe and love.
Because of this, pheasants can maintain a suitable living environment in a large area of the mainland, and the population is relatively stable.
Even if these pheasants can infest farmland and cause disputes, farmers are more likely to be tolerant and drive away, rarely killing and catching indiscriminately.
But even so, the number of pheasants is quietly declining.
Over the years, the mainland government has made unremitting efforts to protect this rare species. Even in 8 provinces across the country, 16 national nature reserves have been set up to create a good living environment for pheasants.
In addition to the designation of protected areas, the mainland has also made efforts to restore the pheasant population through artificial breeding and supplemental feeding in the wild.
On this basis, a set of strict laws and regulations have also emerged to implement all-round protection for pheasants.
According to the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Law, pheasants are listed as national second-class key protected wild animals. No individual or unit shall capture, kill, abandon, illegally purchase, or operate pheasants and their products without approval. Once caught, fines up to criminal sanctions are imposed.
There was a case that caused an uproar and served as a reminder of the heavy price paid for illegal hunting of pheasants.
Three years ago, a case of pheasants being hunted occurred in a mountain forest in Weiyuan County, Neijiang City, Sichuan.
At that time, Shi, a 55-year-old herdsman, entered the forest area with a double-barreled shotgun and accidentally shot a pheasant. Soon, the law enforcement officers received a report from the masses and sent Shi to the local forest public security bureau for investigation on the spot.
During the trial, Shi confessed to what he had done. He confessed that he was blinded by the desire to eat for a moment to do such a stupid thing.
In the end, the court sentenced Shi to 8 months in prison based on factors such as his subjective malice and being a first-time offender.
This shows how well we protect pheasants.
However, the treatment of the same species, in a different place, is very different.
Britain is in a "pheasant siege" dilemma
In the UK, the number of pheasants has risen to over 60 million.
In the face of this group of nimble neighbours, the British have fallen into an unprecedented predicament and passivity.
The pheasant was able to spread in Britain in large part due to its great mobility and reproductive ability.
As an alert bird, pheasants are adept at navigating jungles and fleeing quickly when they spot danger.
At the same time, hens can lay more than 20 eggs a year, and their reproductive ability is extremely amazing, and in the absence of natural predators, the population of this species has soared, putting huge pressure on the native British ecosystem.
According to surveys in the UK, several species of wildlife are on the brink of extinction, which has a lot to do with the overbreeding of pheasants and the cannibalization of food and habitat for other species.
Moreover, large numbers of pheasants can also wreak havoc on crops, causing a severe blow to the agricultural economy. Not only do they eat up crops, but they can also bring pests and diseases, causing huge losses to farmers' harvests.
Nowadays, more and more pheasants have strayed into the road, causing violent collisions with cars, bringing great threats to the lives of motorists. Pheasant accidents on British highways are even more common.
The most outrageous thing is that a large number of pheasants have also entered the British urban areas, where they will occupy parks, generate noise pollution, sanitation problems, etc., and seriously affect the quality of life of urban residents.
Moreover, pheasants are carriers and sources of infection for some zoonotic diseases. If uncontrolled populations, it increases the risk of these diseases spreading between wildlife and humans.
For this reason, the troubled British people spend millions of pounds every year to deal with it, but they still have not been able to reverse the general trend of the pheasant epidemic.
The British, who were helpless, could only start the "national hunt".
"Hunting for All"
With the encouragement of the government, countless British people chose to pull out their spears and start hunting pheasants.
At first, people were very excited, and the number of birds hunted in the English countryside alone reached a staggering level of one million birds every year.
Later, the government saw that the results were good, and even introduced the "Bounty Hunter" mode, which rewards hunters for outstanding performance.
However, after some time, the people began to get tired, and even the veteran hunters said that they could not be hunted at all, and that the pheasants were so alert that it was difficult to hunt.
Moreover, as a highly fertile species, the "stubborn" pheasants still maintain a very high fertility despite the rain of bullets.
Even these pheasants who escaped from the hunt have "exercised" a strong survivability and alert instinct.
Now, the British people are panicked and helpless to look at this army of pheasants, helpless.
In desperation," said the director of the British Environment Institute, "pheasants are edible birds after all, and we can use them rationally, rather than completely eradicate them." "
Of course, there are about 60 million people in the UK, and if they eat one at a time, the pheasant will definitely not be able to jump.
While we are having fun, we are also very puzzled, why the pheasants in Britain can develop so rapidly, while in China, where we have a lot of resources, pheasants are becoming more and more rare.
The same pheasant, a different fate
First of all, the UK's nature conservation policies and habitat management are very conducive to the survival and reproduction of pheasants.
Britain's original intention was to protect those rare birds, but unexpectedly, they unexpectedly achieved pheasants, which they never imagined.
In contrast, although we in China have protection, it is already a little late.
Rapid urbanization and industrialization in recent years have led to the loss of many pheasants from their natural habitats, and poaching has also made pheasants less common.
Another is that in the British ecosystem, pheasants have almost no natural predators, otherwise they would not have developed so rapidly.
But our country is different, because our species are more abundant, and there are many upper food chains of pheasants, so even if pheasants are born quickly, it is difficult to reach the point of flooding.
Resources
The pheasants here have reached the level of flooding, and as a result, they have become the most hunted and killed birds, China Youth Network