Jiang Tanjun

    jtjbarry@163.com

    RECENTLY, reports about the illegal hunting and eating of wildlife, such as threshers from the Xisha Islands and tigers from Leizhou, angered netizens.

    The uncivilized tradition of eating wildlife (especially endangered ones) destroys ecosystems and clearly reflects the consumer’s selfishness and lack of a “land ethic,” as explained in the book “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold. “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise,” Leopold said.

    Some people also have the antiquated and erroneous belief that eating certain animals endow the consumer with extra health benefits. As a matter of fact, many experts have already repeatedly pointed out that the protein, carbohydrate and other nutritional indices of wildlife are similar to those of domestic poultry and livestock, so there are no extra benefits to eating wild animals.

    On the contrary, eating wildlife can be risky because some wild animals are hunted and killed with poison and wildlife on the black market is not inspected by government agencies. Handlers and consumers of hunted wildlife can become infected by parasites or viruses carried by the wildlife.

    Still, some wildlife consumers know all this, and that what they are doing is illegal and dangerous, but they do it anyway out of vanity. By consuming expensive, rare wildlife, they want to demonstrate their wealth or power.

    A rich businessperson who led a group of people in the buying and killing of three tigers in Leizhou was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The sentence was intensely praised by netizens. Strict law enforcement and more education and publicity are needed to eliminate this uncivilized tradition and to help the general public to learn more about “land ethics.”

    (The author is a senior management consultant.)