China and Laos reached an agreement to protect wild endangered
Asian Elephants that live along the border between the two
countries, during their annual meeting, held currently in
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Xinhua
reported yesterday.
According to the Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department, the two
countries agreed on four items -- to promulgate animal protection
knowledge to villagers; to tighten controls over hunting guns and
their activity; to plan an agenda for cross-border protection and
to apply for international funds; to arrange next year's annual
meeting in Laos -- designated to protect the elephants residing in
nature reserves around the border.
Asian Elephants, each on average 3.2 meters high and over five
tons in weight, have been reduced to a single herd of less than 400
in China in current years. The figure puts the mammal, the hugest
by size on Asian land, under the nation's grade-one protection.
According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, the world
has approximately 30,000 Asian Elephants in total still living in
the forests of southern and southeastern Asia. The big animal,
which spends 18 to 20 hours a day seeking about 300 kilograms of
forage in less populated forests and wetlands, is not very
adaptable to dramatic climate changes.
The elephant has been listed as one of the species protected by
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES), an agreement signed among 80 countries in
1973.
(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, February 14, 2008)
