Hong Kong media: In China, they are "facing the disaster of extinguishing"

Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" June 11 article, original topic: With the surge in the ecosystem of electricity catching, China's earthworms are facing the disaster of extinguishing

With the surge in capturing the activity of earthworms (pictured) in the soil by electricity, China is facing an "extinction level" ecological disaster. Environmentalists said this approach is threatening the number of earthworms and soil ecosystems. This trend has continued to increase by the needs of the Chinese medicine industry, and more and more people are driven by factors such as bait.

Dry earthworms are commonly known as "Dragon Dry" and are important Chinese medicinal materials. In recent years, there have been instruments such as "Tulong Yi" and "Electric Earthworm Machines" on the market, and the online price is from 100 yuan to 800 yuan. According to media exposure, some merchants have sold more than 100,000 such appliances.

Sun Zhenjun, a professor at the School of Resources and Environment of the Chinese School of Agricultural University, said that the number of earthworms caused a decline in the number of earthworms, forming a vicious circle, and the price of Dilongsan soared. A few years ago, the price of 1 kg of dry products was about 70 yuan, and now it has risen to more than 300 yuan.

In August last year, the Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court ordered three companies to sell electric earthworm machines to apologize publicly and compensated 1.59 million yuan in ecological environmental losses. Lawyer Huang Qibai said that the manufacturer of electric shock equipment was punished because they and the killer constituted an ecological environment. He said that the amount of compensation depends not only on the income of these companies to sell these appliances, but also depends on the degree of destruction of the environment and the degree of difficulty to repair these damage. Although earthworms are not included in the protected wildlife list in China, they are an important part of the entire ecosystem.

Cui Xiaodong translation

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