In 2021, nearly 2,000 people in Helan Mountain will form a group to catch scorpions, catching hundreds of catties every day and earning nearly 1,000 yuan a day. Seeing that he was about to get rid of poverty and become rich, he was greedy for small and cheap and suffered big losses, which made both people and scorpions lose.
At the foot of Helan Mountain in Ningxia, there is a group of people who are busy catching scorpions every day. They think that this is a lucrative business, as long as they catch some wild scorpions, they can sell ** and make thousands of yuan a day. They feel like they've found a shortcut to riches, but they don't know that they're bringing disaster to themselves and the scorpions.
The history of eating scorpions goes back a long way. It is said that as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, some people used scorpions to ** various diseases.
Later, with the development of traditional Chinese medicine, scorpions were also included in the pharmacopoeia and became a commonly used Chinese medicinal material. However, in addition to being used medicinally, there is another use for scorpions, and that is as food.
There are many kinds of scorpions in our country, and the resources are also very rich, but the market demand is far more than **. According to statistics, only about 30% of the annual consumption of scorpions in China is artificially farmed, and the rest are wild. This has led to the fact that the scorpion's ** has been high, and even sometimes it is out of stock.
In the Yimeng Mountains, there is a tradition called "lifting scorpions", and every spring, local people will bring bamboo baskets, iron hooks, gloves and other tools up the mountain to catch scorpions. They look for scorpions in the cracks of the stones, in the grass, and in the hollows of the trees, and then lift them out with iron hooks and put them in bamboo baskets.
It is because of this large amount of catching and eating that the number of scorpions has decreased dramatically and is even endangered. In Northeast China and North China, scorpions, which used to be widely distributed, are now rare to see. In order to meet the needs of the market, some businessmen turned their attention to the northwest region, especially Helan Mountain.
Located on the border between Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, Helan Mountain is a solitary volcano with a terrain and climate that is so harsh that few plants and animals can survive here. However, in such an environment, there is a creature with tenacious vitality, and that is the scorpion. The scorpions of Helan Mountain are not only numerous, but also have a wide variety of species, including black scorpions, red scorpions, yellow scorpions, white scorpions, etc., among them, the most famous is the Helan Mountain black scorpion, which is the largest, most poisonous and the most popular.
These merchants took advantage of this to purchase a large number of scorpions from Helan Mountain, and then shipped them to various places for processing and sales. They don't care about the ecological balance of the scorpion, they don't care about the scorpion's safety regulations, and they only think about making huge profits from the scorpion. They even came up with some illegal means, such as dyeing scorpions with dyes to pass off fake as real, or using hormones to make scorpions bigger, shoddy and deceiving consumers.
The scorpion hunting activities in Helan Mountain are not always lively, and in the past, only occasionally some people went up the mountain to catch a few scorpions as a kind of entertainment or tonic. At that time, a complete industrial chain had not yet been formed, so there was not much impact on the number and ecology of scorpions. Even if there are some professional scorpion catchers, they can't catch many scorpions because of the limitations of equipment and physical strength.
However, since 1995, the situation has changed. After the Qingming Festival that year, a large number of people with flashlights poured into the mountains, breaking the tranquility in the mountains. They searched for traces of scorpions in the dark and put all the scorpions they could see in bags.
They came with a number of Chinese medicine dealers. They quickly sorted, packed, and transported the collected scorpions to all parts of the country. From Henan and Shandong to Guangxi and Guangdong, scorpion merchants all over the country are hyping the miraculous effects of wild scorpions in Helan Mountain. They say that the scorpion can cure all diseases, fight cancer, tonify the brain, relieve pain, etc., and is a priceless treasure.
At that time, a pound of wild Helan Mountain scorpions could be sold for 45 yuan. When the local people saw this profit, they all followed suit. They spontaneously formed a scorpion hunting team and began a large-scale capture of scorpions.
Such a situation has aroused the greed of some people. They want to make money by catching scorpions, and even want to make a fortune from them. Regardless of the law and morality, regardless of the survival and ecology of scorpions, they constantly hunted scorpions on Helan Mountain. They use various methods, such as lights, bait, nets, and poisons, to catch scorpions. Day and night, season, size or size, as long as it is a scorpion, they will take it away.
Such behavior has brought great disasters to the scorpions of Helan Mountain. After more than 20 years of overcapture, the number of scorpions in Helan Mountain has dropped dramatically, and it is now less than one-third of its original size. Originally, the scorpions on Helan Mountain were a rich resource, and now, they have become a rare species. Originally, the scorpions on Helan Mountain were a beautiful landscape, and now, they have become an endangered animal. Such a result also brings backlash to those who catch scorpions.
As the number of scorpions decreases, so do their income. Although the scorpion's ** has been rising, from 800 yuan a kilogram in 2018 to 1,000 yuan a kilogram in 2021, this cannot make up for the decline in the number of them caught.
Moreover, their actions have also been punished by law. In China, although scorpions have not been officially listed as protected animals, they also have a certain level of protection. There are regulations in place that prohibit or restrict the capture of wild scorpions. If the number of catches exceeds a certain standard, penalties and even criminal liability are imposed. In Shanxi, for example, if more than 1,000 wild scorpions are caught, they are criminally responsible.
There will be brave men under the heavy reward, and many people simply ignore the law in the face of high profits, and the number of people who catch scorpions continues unabated.
They don't know that by doing so, they will not only bring danger to themselves, but also to the scorpion and the environment. First of all, the scorpion is a venomous animal.
There are more than 1,750 species of scorpions worldwide, and they all have a stinger on their tails that hide venom. These venoms vary in toxicity, some are very weak, some are very strong, and there are 25 types of scorpion venom that can threaten human life. The scorpions in our country are mainly East Asian pincer scorpions, which are very poisonous and have a fierce temperament. Someone did an experiment with a mouse and injected the venom of the East Asian pincer scorpion into the body of the mouse, and the mouse immediately developed symptoms such as convulsions, convulsions, and tightness, and soon died. Although people are stronger than mice, if they are stung by scorpions, they will also have dizziness, nausea, convulsions and other reactions, and in severe cases, they will be life-threatening.
In addition to poisoning, there are other dangers associated with catching scorpions. Scorpion hunting is generally done at night, because scorpions are nocturnal animals, and they will hide in the cracks of rocks during the day and only come out at night. In the dark, the vision is not clear, and accidents can easily occur. For example, stepping on the air, slipping, falling into a ditch, falling into a well, etc. These can result in serious injury or death. In the past, there have been many examples of this. In 2016, an elderly man in his fifties was catching scorpions in the mountains of Yinchuan and accidentally fell into a 40-meter-deep ditch. By the time the rescue team arrived, he had no vital signs.
In 2018, a farmer in Dingxiang County accidentally fell into a 60-meter-deep dry well while chasing scorpions. His injuries were so severe that the rescue team tried their best to save his life.
Eating and catching scorpions is a terrible job!
Secondly, the number of scorpions decreases, which also has a great impact on the environment. The scorpion is an important natural predator that can prey on harmful animals such as locusts, spiders, lizards, etc. It is estimated that a single scorpion can kill more than 1,000 pests a year, most of which are locusts.
Locusts are a very fearsome pest that flies in swarms and can eat patches of crops and fruit trees. Without the control of natural predators such as scorpions, locusts will multiply indefinitely, causing locust plagues.
Because the current means of catching scorpions are too advanced, the reproduction and growth rate of scorpions is far from catching up with the speed of their killing. Scorpions can only reproduce once a year and take three years to grow. Many baby scorpions have been eaten by humans before they have time to reproduce. In this way, the number of scorpions is decreasing and the number of locusts is increasing.
Although there are no signs of locust infestations yet, if this situation continues, it is very likely. At that time, humanity will regret their greed because they sacrificed their future for the sake of temporary gain.
To prevent this tragedy from happening, several departments in Ningxia have taken steps to crack down on the illegal hunting of wild scorpions. However, these measures are not effective enough, and there are still many people who continue to catch scorpions in disregard of the law and morality. If we want to solve this problem completely, we need more publicity and education, so that people can realize the value and role of scorpions, protect scorpions, protect the environment, and protect themselves.