The Rendering №12

The article “Endangered and Targeted:Fight to Save Oriental Stork Captivates China” was published on November 22, 2012 by Didi Kirsten Tatlow. It discusses a contest between beauty — in the form of the dramatically elegant black-and-white oriental stork — and a beast — carbofuran, a highly toxic pesticide. The author pointed out that in China this month, hunters wielding the chemical that is banned in many places targeted the endangered bird, attempting to kill dozens — and partly succeeding. It is necessary to mention that tales of the damage inflicted on the environment and wildlife are fairly common in China as the country pursues economic growth decade after decade at seemingly any cost. The correspondent explained that people continue to eat wild animals, even rare species, in the belief that they are especially nutritious.

Analyzing that every autumn hundreds of the large, graceful storks, which are listed as “endangered” on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, land in the Beidagang wetland reserve where they rest and feed for about two weeks, it is necessary to pay attention that this year, about 20 birds never took off again, killed by hunters laying down the “bird poison” known in Chinese as kebaiwei. Didi Kirsten Tatlow mentioned that the poison is also a problem in Britain, where the wildlife minister, Richard Benyon, was harshly criticized by opposition members of Parliament last month for refusing to ban the substance. The author made clear that over the last ten days, at least two dozen birds were saved by quick action by bird watchers and rescuers. It is important that shocked and angered, journalists at The Beijing News have begun a campaign to protect rare birds from attacks such as these, with a hotline for people to report crimes. The stork is a class one protected species in China and is culturally venerated here. Moreover, the bird is also considered a national treasure in Japan, where it died out and was re-introduced into the wild from captivity.

The correspondent believed that something even more important than culture was at work — money, and the still-large market for eating game. It is necessary to point out that each of the birds fetches about 200 renminbi ($32) in local wild game restaurants — not much, but clearly worth it to the hunters. In conclusion the author told that Storks aren’t the only targets, so are swans and ducks and for Chinese conservationists, it’s a horrifying tale. In my opinion, problems such this one is very topical nowadays. We should be more humane to animals and birds in order to save them all over the world.