I have a wildlife zoo

Linhai TV Station!

The host said, "Good morning to all our viewers! This is 'Linhai Hotline,' and we focus on the social hot topics that everyone is most concerned about.

The content of this issue is, under the epidemic, what is the relationship between the virus and wildlife? How should we treat the wildlife around us? These are issues that relate to everyone's health and safety, as well as the ecological safety of society.

We have also specially invited two very heavyweight guests in the relevant fields to answer these questions today. One is Fang Ye, the director of Linhai Zoo, and the other is Teacher Wang Yan, a researcher from Xinghe University. Welcome, both of you!"

The host extended a hand to Fang Ye and Wang Yan on the sofa, and both nodded in response.

Because of the epidemic, fewer people went out, and everyone stayed at home on weekends.

If they weren't looking at their phones or computers, they were watching TV.

At Liu Xueqing's home.

Yingying was playing with building blocks on the floor, Yingying's grandfather was sitting on the sofa watching TV, and Liu Xueqing was looking at her phone!

While discussing with a colleague when COVID-19 might pass, she heard the content of the news and immediately looked up.

She put down her phone, called Yingying's father over, and watched the television intently.

This was exactly the content she cared about very much!

The host went on to say, "Everyone can send in questions via text messages on their phones to interact live with our experts."

Then, facing Fang Ye and Wang Yan, the host asked, "Recently everyone has been worried about the new coronavirus, and there are many questions about wildlife. For example, can we still eat crayfish? Can we keep red-eared sliders? And about the bats that appear in residential areas, many friends might be scared by the bats seen in or near their homes or neighborhoods. Is it permissible to kill them?"

Fang Ye found this issue quite frustrating. "Recently, our zoo staff have indeed been busy, going to various neighborhoods to drive away bats. I can sense that everyone has an extreme fear of bats, clamoring to beat or kill them, and they won't feel at ease until they are dead."

Wang Yan chimed in, "It's not just in Linhai. We have noticed that many other big cities have recently also developed a panic about bats.

Actually, whether or not bats can be killed is not the most important question, which animal is the intermediate host, or whether they can be eaten is also not important. These are not the core of the problem.

I think this reflects several points, first, that everyone is really too ignorant about wildlife; second, that we might have no clue about the appearance of wildlife in cities, and that it is inevitable; third, that even people who really like wildlife do not have the ability to elevate their understanding to the level of the ecosystem.

In fact, the ecosystem is a whole, and pulling one thread affects the entire tapestry. Some experts have proposed the concept of 'ecocide,' which is not a new idea in history. The killing of bats or similar actions have occurred on many continents.

For example, the prairie dog! It is a very common prairie animal in North America.

Today, people have a lot of understanding about prairie dogs, such as how they 'talk,' make up words, and have a very rich language system.

Even when you give them something they've never seen before, like a cellphone, a few prairie dogs gather together and ponder over it until they create a word like 'cellphone' and manage to pass this new term down steadily within the group.

However, over a hundred years ago, people's assessment of them was overwhelmingly negative; prairie dogs were seen as useless creatures that were ubiquitous across the grasslands. In fact, it is customary for humans to judge whether an animal is useful or not, which I think is rooted deep within our psyche.

People thought that perhaps by killing off the prairie dogs, without them eating the grass, the grassland would improve and be better for grazing, potentially increasing livestock production.

In the 1940s, a large-scale poisoning campaign against prairie dogs began. Using poison, guns, flooding their burrows, and employing dogs, the various methods combined caused a population decrease of 98% in many areas, and some places saw the prairie dogs completely eradicated.

To their great surprise, people found that after prairie dogs had nibbled on the grass once, the grass grew back faster, and the new growth had a higher content of protein, sugars, and was more nutritionally complete. Furthermore, areas with prairie dogs, due to their continual burrowing, had a richer species composition, actually making for a healthier grassland.

From bison to pronghorns, everyone depends on prairie dogs for their survival.

So from that time, people gradually recognized the concept of key species and keystone species within ecosystems. However, such mistakes continued to occur."

Fang Ye nodded and explained, "If you're someone who usually visits our zoo or has been to the alpine animal exhibit, or if you're someone who likes animals such as the Tibetan fox and Pallas's cat and watches documentaries, you'll know that their favorite food is the pika! It looks like a little rat but without a tail.

Pikas are pretty much like the staple rice of the plateau, and they're often bullied for no reason.

The fate of the pika is similar to that of prairie dogs. People thought pikas were causing desertification of the grasslands and started massive poisoning campaigns against them, resulting in many common and upland buzzards dying after eating the poisoned pika carcasses.

After long-term monitoring, it was discovered that grasslands without pikas didn't improve as expected but instead got worse. The burrowing of pikas increased the soil's water absorption and aeration. Without pikas, water couldn't seep through, leading to soil erosion instead.

Grasses that grow too tall hinder pikas from seeing predators, so they prefer living in locations where the grass is shorter and sparser, not causing desertification themselves."

Wang Yan concluded, "Each time there's a mass extermination of these keystone species, it's usually a failure, and it ends up having the opposite effect. People whimsically alter ecosystems and then must exert efforts many times greater to try to revert them back to their original state.

Only one scenario requires eradication, and that's with invasive species."

Fang Ye added, "In natural ecosystems, every species has its significance."

The host said, "Ah, that reminds me of wild boars! Recently, one broke into a bubble tea shop and was captured by your zoo, right?"

Fang Ye smiled and replied, "The bubble tea wild boar has already been released back into the wild.

Indeed, wild boars are also a frequently misunderstood animal.

In recent years, there's been a lot of news about wild boars entering cities, creating an impression that they are rampant and harmful pests that damage crops and could hurt people, suggesting we need to eradicate them.

In reality, wild boars play an important role in forests. They forage by rooting around in the ground, during which process the mixing of fallen branches, leaves, air, and soil speeds up the formation of humus, allowing seeds to germinate better and aiding forest succession.

During snowy winters, they also uncover the snow, enabling small mammals and birds like squirrels to forage."