Thursday, June 24, 2021

세상에 이럴수가! 서식처가 줄어들어 먹거리 찾기에 힘든 코끼리가 한 여인의 집을 부수고 들어왔단다.먹이를 찾았을까?

태국에서 야생 코끼리 한마리가 먹거리를 찾아 헤매다 한밤중에 여인홀로 살고있는 집벽을 부수고 돌진한 사건이 벌어졌다. 과연 그용맹성 만큼이나 먹이감을 찾았을까? 궁금하기만 하다. 우리 인간들이 산야를 개발하면서, 야생 동물들의 서식처가 줄어들어, 특히 코끼리같은 큰 동물들이 가장 많이 피해를 입는것 같다는 전문가들의 통계와 발언을 경청해야 될것같다.  

코끼리가 서식하지 않는 지구촌의 온대지방이나 북부 지역에 사는 사람들에게는 생소하게 들릴지 모르겠으나 인도와 아프리카의 여러나라를 탐방하면서 많은 코끼리떼들과 조우했었던 기억이있다.

"가족들이 잠자고 있는데, 갑자기 부억쪽에서 '꽝' 소리가 나서 가족모두가 놀라서 잠을깼다.  우리모두는 급히 아랫층으로 달려가 목격한 광경은 커다란 코끼리가 머리로 우리 부엌벽을 뚫고 있는 장면이었었다" Prachuap Khiri Khan주에 거주하는 Ratchadawan Puengprasoppon의 설명이다.

"내가 어렸을때부터 먹거리를 찾아 소리를 지르면서 우리 주변을 맴도는 코끼리떼들을 보곤 했었다. 그러나 이렇게 집을 부수고 안으로 뛰어든적은 처음 입니다."라고.  그녀의 설명에 의하면 사고가 난 토요일날 부엌에는 아무런 먹거리가 없었지만 아마도 집안에 보관하고 있던 소금을 훔칠려고 그런 난동을 부렸던 것으로 보입니다.

확실치는 않지만, 생물학자들이 보는 상황을 음미해보면, 코끼리들의 생활반경이 줄어드는 상황으로, 결론적으로 코끼리들의 서식처가 줄어드는 경고를 하고 있다. 

"오랜세월동안 우리인간들과 코끼리들 사이에는 전통적으로 완충지대가 형성되여 공존하고 있었는데 그러한 조건들이 서서히 줄어들고 있고, 코끼리떼들이 인간들과 자연적으로 조우하는 기회가 많이 증가하고 있다." 라고 야생동물전문 생물학자이면서, 베이징 대학의 교수로 근무중인 Zhang Li씨는 상황설명을 하고 있다고, 국영  Global Times타블로이드가 보도한다.

최근 중국에서는 15마리의 코끼리떼가 지난 몇달사이에 중국남쪽으로 이동하는 광경을 전중국이 라이브스트림으로 지켜보았는데, 이코끼리떼는 지난해에 자연보호구역에서 탈출하여 500Km를 남하하는 긴여행을 하고있는 중이라고 한다.  

전세계적으로 야생동물들의 서식처가, 우리인간들의 개발붐에, 침식당해 활동반경이 줄어들고, 동시에 배를 채울 먹거리가 없어져, 예측못하는 화를 당하는 경우가 주위에서 종종 발생하는 뉴스를 접하곤 했었는데.... 결국엔 생각이 짧았던 우리인간들인 벌인 자연파괴의 화를 되돌려 받는것은 아닐까?라는 두려움이 많아진다.




Bangkok (CNN)A woman in Thailand found an unexpected visitor in her house in the middle of the night last weekend -- a wild Asian elephant.

"We were sleeping and woke up by a sound inside our kitchen," said Ratchadawan Puengprasoppon, a resident of Hua Hin district in western Prachuap Khiri Khan province. "So we rushed downstairs and saw this elephant poked its head into our kitchen where the wall was broken."
Her wall already had a hole in it from when an elephant had smashed into her house last month, she said. The damage had not yet been repaired when the elephant showed up on Saturday and stuck its head through the hole.
    Videos taken by Ratchadawan show the elephant extending its trunk to rifle through cupboards and drawers, knocking over dishes. At one point, it picked up what appears to be a plastic bag using its trunk, and placed it in its mouth.
      "I have seen elephants roaming around our town looking for food since I was young," said Ratchadawan. "But this is the first time they actually damaged my house."
        She added there was no food in her kitchen on Saturday when the elephant came in -- but it may have been trying to steal the salt stored inside.
        The elephant came into the kitchen because it smelled food, the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said in a Facebook post on Sunday. "Elephants are herbivores so they needs minerals from salty food, which is essential for their bodies. They would try to find any minerals, and we have educated local residents," the department said.
          Ratchadawan's house may also have been targeted because it's located next to the entrance of a national park where elephants live, said Prateep Puywongtarn, a staff member at the Huay Sat Yai Subdistrict Administration Organization in Hua Hin.
          Similar incidents often happen in the area due to its proximity to the national park and the elephants' habitat, he added. Elephant sightings and incidents typically increase during fruit harvest season -- in recent years, an elephant destroyed a house where a resident was keeping fruit produce, he said.
          Elephant-human conflict has been on the rise in recent decades -- not just in Thailand, but in places like India and across Asia where the animals live. As human settlements and infrastructure expand, wildlife habitats shrink and become fractured, leaving animals with less land, smaller packs and fewer resources -- forcing them to roam in search of food.
          "Although roughly half of the geographic range of elephant habitat in Thailand is considered suitable for long-term elephant conservation, much of this area is threatened by agriculture, roads and other development resulting in fragmentation and increased (human-elephant conflict)," said a 2018 study on elephants in western Thailand, published in the journal PLOS One.
          Of 41 fruit and agriculture plantation owners surveyed in the study, nearly all said elephants raided their crops at least once a month -- and more than half said it was a daily occurrence. They also reported other types of property damage, like the breaking of water pipes and water tanks.
          "No single mitigation method can address the multifaceted causes of the problem, which stems from increased development of original elephant habitat," the study said. Long-term solutions must include "efforts to restore natural elephant habitat, proper land use planning, and crop choices that are less attractive to elephants," as well as "securing corridors to allow elephants to move to additional habitats."
          Conservationists have also recommended similar measures in India, home to the world's largest population of endangered Asian elephants. For years, human-elephant conflict has increased -- elephants kill about 500 people in India every year. It's a direct reflection of their shrinking habitat, leading them into more contact with humans, conservationists say.
          In China, the problem has been thrust to the fore this past month, with the nation captivated by a herd of 15 elephants currently making its way across the country's southwest. The elephants, which millions of people are watching via livestream, have trekked more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) since escaping from a nature reserve last year.
            Though it's not clear why they left, biologists see the situation as a warning of what happens when elephant habitats are degraded.
            "The traditional buffer zones between humans and elephants are gradually disappearing, and the chances of elephants' encountering humans naturally increase greatly," said Zhang Li, a wildlife biologist and professor at Beijing Normal University, according to the state-run Global Times tabloid.

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