Wild animals are not for show

A herd of 15 wild Asian elephants that left Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in the south of Yunnan province last year entered the provincial capital of Kunming on Thursday.

While most residents have been keeping out of the herd's way, as requested by the authorities, some livestreaming anchors are going very close to the elephants and livestreaming their daily activities.

They might not know how dangerous that can be. First, the presence of so many humans could frighten the wild elephants, making them change course, thus creating more problems for residents. Second, there are some calves in the herd and if the elephants sense any danger to the calves, they could turn aggressive, increasing the threats to locals.

Some of those livestreaming the elephants' movement were behaving like they were covering zoo animals. They possibly don't realize that zoo animals are different in that they watch humans from close quarters but always from secure enclosures, while wild elephants are totally cut off from humans and could attack them if alarmed. If their viewers get influenced by their livestreaming to try and get too close to the wild herd, it could even prove fatal.

Of course, elephants have been criss-crossing Yunnan quite frequently in the past several years and the residents there must know how to co-exist peacefully with them by now. If the wild elephants enter a city, residents must avoid coming in their way. They should just let the elephants pass by and let the local government pay for the damage, if any.

Actually, the frequent movement of wild animals in China shows that the ecological environment is constantly improving for wild animals. It is time more people learned how to co-exist peacefully with the animals for the safety of everyone.

－WEI WEI, HEAD OF RARE ANIMALS AND PLANTS INSTITUTE, CHINA WEST NORMAL UNIVERSITY