According to the new version of the "Directory of Wild Animals under National Key Protection" (hereinafter referred to as the "Directory"), 7 species of wild animals in our city have been upgraded from national second-level key protected animals to national first-level key protected wild animals, and 6 kinds of wild animals have been newly added to the national second-level key protection of wild animals.
Among the 7 species of animals that have been upgraded to national key protected wild animals in our city, there are 4 species of mammals, namely big spirit cats, small spirit cats, jackals, and golden cats; there are 3 species of birds, namely vultures, alpine vultures, and Sichuan forest owls. So far, Ya'an's national first-class protected wildlife has increased from 19 species to 26 species, including 13 species of mammals such as giant pandas and Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys, and 13 species of birds such as green-tailed rainbow pheasants and red-throated pheasants.
According to the adjusted "List", there are 6 kinds of wild animals in Ya'an that have been newly added to the national second-level key protected wild animals, namely wolves, ocelots, hairy-crowned deer, transverse spotted snakes, brittle snake lizards, and mountain stream salamanders, of which the type specimens of hairy-crowned deer, horizontal spotted snakes and mountain stream salamanders are produced in Ya'an.
According to the data on wildlife under key protection in the Ya'an Yearbook (2019) and the new version of the List, There are 72 species of vertebrates under national secondary key protection in Ya'an, including 19 species of mammals, 48 species of birds, and 5 species of amphibians and reptiles. In the book "Ya'an Guan Butterfly", it is recorded that there are four kinds of butterflies in our city: golden phoenix butterfly, beaked phoenix butterfly, double-tailed phoenix butterfly and three-tailed phoenix butterfly that belong to the national second-level key protected wild animals. In addition, Ya'an also has beetles that belong to the national protected wildlife, and other animals. According to preliminary statistics, Ya'an has accumulated more than 100 species of wild animals under national key protection.
Ya'an is the transition zone between the Sichuan Basin and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the central area of the Yuping Geographical Belt in West China, with abundant rainfall, known as "Rain City" and "one of the most moist cities". Ya'an is located in the Hengduan Mountains, one of the world's top ten biodiversity centers, and has been called "natural biological gene bank" and "natural animal and plant museum" by the academic community. According to statistics, Ya'an has more than 770 species of vertebrates and more than 3,000 species of higher plants, which is the scientific discovery of more than 690 species of organisms such as giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, and tung trees, and more than 90 species of organisms are named after Ya'an and districts and counties, and some are famous "living fossils" or "living cultural relics".
In order to strengthen the rescue and protection of rare and endangered wild animals, the Wildlife Protection Law has made clear provisions on the implementation of the "List" system. With the approval of the State Council, the former Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs first released the "List" on January 14, 1989, clarifying the scope of wild animals under national key protection, which has played a positive role in strengthening the rescue and protection of species, cracking down on indiscriminate hunting and illegal trade, and improving public awareness of protection. However, in the 32 years since the publication of the "List", there has been no systematic update except for the upgrading of all species of musk and pangolin to national first-level protected wild animals in 2003 and 2020, respectively. During this period, the situation of wildlife protection in China has undergone great changes, so it is not only necessary but also extremely urgent to make scientific adjustments to the List.
After the newly revised Wildlife Protection Law was officially implemented on January 1, 2017, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly launched the adjustment of the Directory, through extensive collection of resource data, resource surveys of key species, organized experts and scholars to conduct scientific assessments, discussions, and demonstrations, and publicly solicited opinions and suggestions from relevant departments and all sectors of society, and formed a final draft of the adjustment plan for the Directory, which was approved by the State Council.
In February this year, with the approval of the State Council, the adjusted Directory was officially released to the public. The adjusted "List" includes a total of 980 species and 8 categories of wild animals, including 234 species and 1 categories of wild animals protected at the national level and 746 species and 7 categories of wild animals under national second-level protection.
Yang Hua