Wuhan crayfish farmer helps protect endangered chicken species

BEIJING, Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — A information report from chinadaily.com.cn: 

On the morning of Nov 5, Zhu Xiangneng, a 38-year-old crayfish farmer, steadily held a second-hand skilled digicam by his crayfish pond in Donghu Excessive-Tech Improvement Zone, Wuhan.

By way of the viewfinder, he noticed 4 geese on the water’s floor cruising leisurely below dry lotus dozens of meters away.

“Right here they’re!” Zhu shouted out with pleasure.

Zhu has been ready for a number of days for this time: the 14th Assembly of the Convention of the Contracting Events to the Ramsar Conference on Wetlands, which is going down in his hometown, Wuhan. The town is well-known because the “metropolis of rivers”.

The wild duck that Zhu cherished a lot is Baer’s pochard (Aythya baeri), a State-level endangered animal species in China and a critically endangered species on the earth. Lower than 2,000 mature people are estimated to exist world wide.

It was not till mid-to-late April that Zhu met a member of the Wuhan Hen Watching Affiliation who got here to observe birds close to his pond. He then realized that the group of untamed geese was critically endangered and his pond for crayfish farming may very well be the third breeding website for the little creatures in Wuhan.

“Letting birds breed in my pond has little impact on my enterprise and I might love to guard them,” Zhu stated.

From April to September this yr, essentially the most thrilling factor for Zhu was to kind out movies recorded by the thermal cameras as soon as every week and test the standing of his chicken mates.

“Throughout the breeding season this yr, Baer’s pochards constructed 10 nests in my pond and laid 99 eggs. Two nests had been destroyed by weasels, however 73 ducklings hatched throughout that point.”

Since then, Zhu has acted like a nanny. He walked across the pond twice a day within the morning and night to forestall anybody from poaching or disturbing the birds.

Zhu stated that now he can determine greater than 50 sorts of birds. These unknown wild birds he noticed in his childhood can now be simply acknowledged. “Just like the birds, I discover my flyway and really feel extra related to the world.”

Story continues

On the subject of his plans for the following a number of years, Zhu stated he has determined to maintain the intensive farming of crayfish in his pond to supply these birds a extra favorable place to stay.

Cheng Rongxing, Ma Wenjun and Yang Ran contributed to this story.

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SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn