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Govt buys insurance policy to compensate animal-attacked residents

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-05 13:08

KUNMING - Some southwest China residents will receive more compensation if they are attacked by protected animals, after one local government purchased a public liability insurance policy.

The Dai autonomous prefecture of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, and China Pacific Insurance Co signed an agreement in December that took effect Jan 1.

The insurance policy costs 6.6 million yuan in premiums and its maximum payout is 40 million yuan in 2011.

All endangered wild animals under state protection -- including elephants, boars, bears, tigers and leopards -- are covered by the policy. Local farmers who suffer losses due to the animals' attacks can receive appropriate compensation.

Government compensation for wild animal attacks has been limited, even as the numbers of wild animals in the area has increased, said Wu Jianlei, a Yunnan Provincial Forestry Bureau spokesman.

In Xishuangbanna, direct losses caused by wild elephants has ranged from 3 million to 10 million yuan per year over the past three years, with the yearly average standing around 6 million yuan, said Wu.

Chang Zongbo, an official with the Xishuangbanna Prefecture Forestry Police, said more than 4,000 cases of damage caused by wild animals have been reported in recent years, and more than 130 people have been killed or injured since 1991.

Government compensation paid to victims was often less than 10 percent of losses, said Chang.

In Shuangla Village, Lisu autonomous prefecture of Nujiang, for instance, black bears attacked more than 20 sheep and destroyed 150 mu of crops in one year.

Villager Feng Yuzhong said black bears do not fear scarecrows at all.

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"Later, we found a tape recorder and high-pitched sounds played through a loudspeaker proved effective in scaring them. But this might not last," said Feng.

In another case, in Mengla county, wild elephants killed a 67-year-old farmer picking chilis in the mountains in November.

Fang Shengguo, director of the State Conservation Center for Gene Resources of Endangered Wildlife, said the rise in wildlife populations does not mean China's ecology has been optimized. "On the contrary, these attacks reflect the lack of a complete food chain for the wild animals," he said.

To prevent the killing of protected wildlife in the area, Fang said compensation must be adequate.

In November 2009, in a pilot program, the local government signed an insurance contract to compensate for wild elephant attacks only.

The latest insurance contract is an expansion of pilot program to include attacks by animals other than wild elephants.

Last month, villagers in Xishuangbanna prefecture received a 960,000 yuan insurance payout for the wild elephant attacks they suffered in 2010.