Conflicts between Human and Wildlife in Baytik Mountain, China

Authors

Wenxuan Xu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Weikang Yang, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Canjun Xia, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xingyi Gao, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Date of this Version

2016

Document Type

Article

Citation

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei (2016) band 13: 457-460.

Comments

Copyright 2016, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg, Halle (Saale). Used by permission

Abstract

Baytik Mountain was a traditional pasture used by nomads, divided into summer pasture, winter pasture and transitional pasture, and most of their livestock were goat and sheep. Many rare and endangered animals occur in this region, including snow leopard, lynx, Mongolian wild ass, ibex and argali. There have long history of conflicts between human and wildlife. Minority nationalities (Uighur, Kazakh, and Mongols, etc.) in China do not have a one child policy. As a result, many families have become quite large because of improvements in living standards, medical care, and living conditions. In addition, these living conditions force the local people to keep more and more livestock. Because of the interference by the fence and the road, in the desert and desert grasslands of the Baytik mountain area, no khulan, ibex, or argali were found; only Goitered gazelle and some birds (such as Anthropoides virgo, Buteo, and Milvus) were counted. Moreover, according to the local herdsmen, the wolf is the biggest threat to their livestock; each family will lose five sheep or goats per year (on average) because of wolf predation. Since 2003, the government constructed fences for the purpose of vegetation restoration, but it has bad effect on the wild animals. These fences decreased the population of wild ungulates leading to a reduction of food sources for carnivores such as the wolf. More and more cases of wolf hunting the livestock were reported in recent years, because less and less food can found in the wild. We suggest the building of fences should be stopped and fences already built should be removed if possible, we also suggest opening the border fence gates on the China-Mongolia border for creation of an ecological corridor for wild animals.