[2] Breaking! Black bear attacks villagers in Jiangyou, Sichuan, killing 3! Wildlife protection should have boundaries
Source of news: The Paper
According to a notice released on May 18 by the official Weibo account of Jiangyou City, Sichuan Province, on the evening of May 17, a black bear attacked villagers on a mountain path in Tiziyan, Group 6 of Chenshui Village, Majiao Town, resulting in three deaths.
According to the notice, at around 7 p.m. on May 17, a villager surnamed Tang (female, 47) from Group 6 of Chenshui Village, Majiao Town, was taking her second son (7 years old) back to school for the weekend. When passing through Tiziyan, they encountered a black bear attack. Her son managed to escape and called for help along the way. Tang's relative surnamed Su (male, 55) heard the news and went down the mountain to Tiziyan to look for Tang, but lost contact during the process.
After receiving the alarm, Jiangyou City Public Security Command Center (Municipal Emergency Command Center) instructed Majiao Town and Erlangmiao Police Station, along with 120 emergency services, to carry out initial response. Tang was found dead at the scene, while Su was missing. The leading official of Jiangyou City Government immediately mobilized special police, criminal police, forest police, as well as functional departments such as the Natural Resources Bureau and grassroots cadres to provide reinforcement, organizing on-site containment, personnel search and rescue, and public evacuation. During the intensive search, Zhu (male, 68), the head of Group 8 of Chenshui Village in Majiao Town, who was participating in the rescue, was suddenly attacked and killed by a black bear.
Online circulated scene photos
Around 2 a.m. on May 18, search and rescue special police encountered the black bear head-on and shot it dead on the spot to ensure safety. Around 6 a.m. on May 18, rescuers found the missing Su, who had died; this black bear attack resulted in three deaths.
Currently, investigation and aftermath handling are underway.
Insider recounts the incident
According to The Paper, a local villager reported on the morning of the 18th that around 6 p.m. on the 17th, Tang was taking her child to town, "because school was starting the next morning, so they had to go then." On the way, the two were attacked by a bear. "Tang was bitten by the bear, and she told her child to run quickly. The child ran a distance, found a place to hide, and watched as the adult was dragged away by the bear. Then the child ran out to call for help, and everyone called 110," the villager said.
According to him, soon after, some villagers went into the mountains to search for the missing person, and the child's uncle, surnamed Su, also died from a bear attack. Around 11 p.m. that night, the leader of Group 8 in Chenshui Village, while leading special police into the mountains to search for bears and "deliver ammunition to the police," was attacked by a bear and tragically died. "One bear has been killed and dragged away (there may be more than one), and now the special police are still searching for others in the area," the villager said. He noted that there had never been an incident of "a person being attacked by a bear" in the area before.
A villager from the same group as Su told reporters that Su was an "elder of the grandfather generation" and "a very honest person." "There are quite a few black bears around here, and villagers often see them when they go up the mountain to dig for herbs," he told The Paper, but added that this was the first time he had heard of a bear attacking a person.
According to Red Star News, the daughter-in-law of the deceased woman, surnamed Mu, said the victim was 47 years old, and the child was her husband's younger brother, aged 7, a first-grade student at Majiao Primary School. Because their home was on the mountain, they rented a house in the town to make it easier for the child to attend school.
That afternoon, Tang sent her youngest son to the rented house in town so he could go to school on the 18th, but tragedy struck.
"The child is very smart. If he hadn't hidden in the bushes, he might have been bitten by the black bear too," said a 72-year-old villager, Granny Mu Cuilan. "The child was terrified. At home, I offered him fruit, but he didn't eat any."
A lawyer from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm stated,We should protect wild animals, but there should also be boundaries. This severe bear attack incident has once again thrust China's Wildlife Protection Law into the spotlight. After so many years of emphasizing wildlife protection, when violent encounters between humans and animals occur, who will protect us?
According to media reports, the aftermath of the incident is being handled, and ecological relocation may be arranged for these households.
For the villagers who were killed, according to Article 19 of the Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, if personal injury, death, or damage to crops or other property is caused by protecting the wildlife specified in this law, the local people's government shall provide compensation. Specific measures shall be formulated by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Relevant local people's governments may promote insurance institutions to develop wildlife damage compensation insurance. The expenses for local people's governments to take measures to prevent and control harm caused by nationally protected key wildlife and to provide compensation shall be subsidized by the central finance in accordance with relevant state regulations.
