Environment     

Animal attack compensation helps preserve Tibet plateau

Xinhua, November 14, 2011

• Cering Gava hid behind a windowsill, as he watched a wolf attack his herd of sheep.

  Yaks grazing in desert area of the Plateau of Tibet. [File photo]

  It left him with the loss of another lamb, the sixth from his stable killed by wild wolves this year. In the moments afterward, the Tibetan herdsman living on plateau pasture in Nagqu, 4,700 meters above sea level, stayed remarkably calm. It is not easy for wolves to survive the freezing winter, he said, not bothering with the time-honored practice in such scenarios of clubbing the carnivore to death to prevent the deaths of more of his assets.

  Gava can afford to take this lenient approach toward the predators because of a government compensation fund, the effectiveness of which is proven by new figures (as well as the dramatically changed attitude of men like Gara).

  In 2006, the Chinese government, moved to restrict farming's impact on the delicate food-chain balance of wildlife in remote areas, introduced a mechanism to compensate victims of wild animal attacks, lessening the need for herdsmen to kill predators.

  Tibet was among the first Chinese provinces and regions to introduce the policy. Five years on, 59.88 million yuan (9.4 million U.S. dollars) has been earmarked from the fund to compensate farmers' losses from wild animal attacks, according to new figures from the regional forestry bureau.

  "The government's fund compensates based on the market price of livestock," explained Gava. "The last time I lost a sheep, I got enough to buy ten lambkins and stuff to fix the sheep pen."

  The policy helps grow the population of wild animals including brown bears, wolves and yak on the plateau, said animal protection officials.

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