Young Kunminger explores new ways for human-wildlife coexistence

“I still remember how excited I was when I traveled to Xishuangbanna to do my research about Asian elephants for the first time. In order to film wild elephants, I even bought a new video camera myself,” said Chen Shu. “However, I had never realized how ill-tempered and dangerous they could become, until one day a local villager asked me if I knew how to climb trees.”

“Unlike what we have seen in many documentaries, wild animals are in fact very difficult to be spotted. In most time, we can only find their traces left behind.”

Chen Shu, as a young lady native to Kunming, Yunnan province, has engaged herself in wildlife conservation since 2011. At present, she works as one and the only staff of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in China. Established in 1826, this society is devoted to protecting animals and their habitats around the globe. Currently, it has extended its research, practical and educational programs to more than 50 countries worldwide.

“Our program in China consists of three parts,” Chen told us. “In the first place, we work with a number of key universities and institutes, studying the distribution and living environment of wild animals, helping monitor their habitats, and later making practical conservation plans together.” 

“Enhancing international communication and corporation over the issue of wildlife conservation is another mission of us,” she said. In 2019, for instance, the society co-organized a conference themed “Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation in Southwest Yunnan” with the Kunming Institute of Zoology and Yunnan University. Foreign conservation practitioners and researchers from Myanmar and Laos were invited to share their stories and experience at the conference.

Furthermore, Chen has taken an active role in organizing educational activities, aiming at raising public awareness of wildlife conservation in China. In December 2017, she launched a project named “We Care”, together with a number of young elephant researchers and the Elephant Books – a local bookstore in downtown Kunming. By holding salon events on a regular basis, they attempt to share interesting facts, knowledge as well as stories about animal protection with the citizens. As many as 15 story-sharing events have taken place so far.

While promoting international academic exchanges, the Zoological Society of London has recently helped the administrative authorities in China, Laos, Myanmar and Nepal reach a tentative agreement on cross-border protection of Asian elephants. “By studying the behaviors of elephants and villagers, we hope to find innovative ways through which humans and wild animals can genuinely coexist,” Chen said.  

Reporting and trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong (Yunnan Daily); photographs providing by the interviewee