Police have detained a man in Yunnan Province for illegally possessing a gun, after he shot and killed a pregnant wild Asian elephant on Sunday to save his wife, local authorities said Tuesday.
The villager surnamed Wang used a self-made gun to shoot an elephant when his wife, who was in the toilet, spotted it nearby after he failed to scare away the animal, Chang Zongbo, information director of the Forest Public Security Bureau, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, told the Global Times Wednesday.
The incident sparked mixed reactions online. Many netizens asked whether shooting a wild animal to death to protect another person's life is considered as self-defense.
A post on Weibo said "it is equally important to protect people and animals, but many people consider this incident a self-defense.
Zhang Wei, dean of the College of Wildlife Resources at the Northeast Forestry University, told the Global Times that he thinks the man acted on self-defense because the elephant had threatened the man's wife.
"I think people are more important than animals under such dangerous circumstances, and could have led to serious injury if nothing was done," Zhang added.
Chang told the Global Times that we must exercise discretion under those circumstances, although the man used a gun, which was indisputable.
The number of wild Asian elephants has been increasing and the species has been a protected animal in China since 1997.
Wild elephants have injured people three times this year in the Xinshuangbanna prefecture, and encounters between the animal and people are becoming more frequent, the local authority said.
Chang said that there are no effective measures to deal with animals in the wild when they approach people. He said a warning system must be set up similar to those in Africa which have had a remarkable effect.
"We should study the elephants' living habits, which could prevent future attacks," Chang added.
