Protecting Livestock: Herders’ Struggles with Wild Animals in Tost Village
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In this video, Baajin Bo shares his experience of encountering and hunting wild animals. Baajin Bo was born in Tost village and has lived there his entire life as a herder. Hunting has been a significant part of herders’ lives in the past, not just because they were too poor to rely solely on their prey and domestic livestock, but because hunting itself holds more significance for mobile pastoralists. However, since the Chinese government confiscated all hunting-related tools in the name of protecting wild animals in the 1990s, herders have faced challenges in protecting their livestock from wild animals such as wolves, bears, and even wild boars. Consequently, herders sometimes find ways to catch or scare off wild animals if they attack domestic livestock. In this video, Baajin Bo shares his experiences of encountering leopards, how they attack and take livestock, and the ways in which herders protect livestock from leopards by keeping a cat at home. Additionally, he discusses local knowledge related to wild boar, lynx, Argali sheep, deer, and wolves.