Friendly Rice Fields Coexisting with Wildlife: Where There Is Habitat in Fengshuwo, Miaoli, There Are Leopard Cats
The push to legislate the Miaoli County Leopard Cat Conservation Self-Governance Ordinance has stalled, but don't give up, because there are still plenty of people who care about leopard cats! Residents of Fengshu Village in Tongxiao Township, Miaoli County, have taken action on their own initiative to protect leopard cats. Li Longhua, former chairman of the Fengshu community, began 5 years ago growing pesticide-free rice in his own rice paddy. The main purpose was to eat it himself, and whatever was left over was sold more or less casually. When the Forestry Bureau came here to set up cameras, only then was it discovered that Li Longhua's field really did have protected wild animals such as leopard cats, civets and crab-eating mongooses appearing in it. Taking the creation of friendly habitat for leopard cats and other wild animals as the starting point, and choosing the rice commonly seen in Miaoli as the target for developing friendly farming, gave rise to "Leopard Cat Rice."
Friendly Recultivation of Abandoned Fields Nature's Easter Eggs in Front of the Lens
Li Longhua's field runs up along a small hillside, with a planting area of about 8 fen, also harvested twice a year, using a friendly farming model to grow rice, weeding by hand, applying no pesticides, and using organic fertilizer. He saves money on pesticides, but spends even more on the cost of manual weeding and organic fertilizing. Growing one crop of rice requires roughly 2 to 3 rounds of weeding. If he does not pull the weeds himself, he hires someone to help weed, at a daily wage of 1500 yuan plus meals. Organic fertilizer is also much more expensive than chemical fertilizer. All of this means he cannot fully profit from this rice paddy. He said, "If you want to haggle over every penny, you just can't keep doing it. My wife is absolutely right. I'm not working now anyway, so I just walk around the field, pull weeds when I see them, and that's fine."
Before the rice was planted, this land was left to grow grass freely, meaning the land had not been farmed for a very long time, and naturally had also gone a long time without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. But his partners felt it was a pity to let the rice paddy lie abandoned and urged Li Longhua to grow some pesticide-free rice. At that time he only thought of growing pesticide-free rice for himself to eat, and had never thought about conserving wild animals. Later, when the Forestry Bureau came and set up surveillance cameras, only then was it discovered that leopard cats, civets and also crab-eating mongooses appeared in this field, and the pesticide-free rice Li Longhua grew was sold under the name Leopard Cat Rice.
From 5 fen to 2.3 hectares The White-Breasted Waterhen and the Leopard Cat Repay the Favor
The Leopard Cat Rice field area started with only 5 fen. In March of year 103 of the Republic of China calendar, the field area was transplanted with rice seedlings for the first time. Four mid-generation farming friends in Fengshu Village grew rice in a friendly way. After 5 years of effort, the area now joining Leopard Cat Rice field cultivation has reached 2.3 hectares. Leopard cats and their satoyama friends can forage with peace of mind in this area, without worrying about eating herbicides or various other pesticides, or eating rats that have eaten poisoned bait.
The farmland owners give leopard cats space to survive, and the leopard cats also give a warm return. Starting from the second crop of year 103, the Forestry Bureau set up infrared automatic cameras around the Leopard Cat Rice fields, successively photographing various wild animals, and even recording the good deeds they did in the fields! The Forestry Bureau said that through monitoring it found that the friendly-farmed Leopard Cat Rice fields are deeply loved by birds of the rail family, because there are apple snails in the fields, and white-breasted waterhens are commonly seen coming to the fields to eat apple snails, greatly reducing the chance of rice seedlings being damaged. When the rice grows up, the plump grains attract rats to sneak a bite, and then the leopard cat takes the stage. It comes to the field area to hunt rats, preserving the farmers' harvest.
The Wildlife Underpass on Miaoli County Road 29 So Lively
Leopard cats have for many years been on the roadkill list, which is heartbreaking. Wild animals living in low-mountain areas face high risk of harm because they are close to human living environments. At present, the most stable habitat for the leopard cat population in all of Taiwan is in Miaoli. Miaoli County Road 29 is a road co-constructed with a river embankment, bordering the Houlong River on the left and connecting to Miaoli City on the right. After investigation, it was found that this road is a key location for the leopard cat population of Miaoli City to travel to the low-mountain corridors of Houlong Township, Zaoqiao Township and Xihu Township. The Forestry Bureau built the "Miaoli County Road 29 Friendly Environment Animal Passage Project" here.
Animals are indeed clever. Leopard cats that originally could only stand helplessly in front of protective netting watching cars constantly come and go found the wildlife-only passage that humans built for them, allowing them to safely cross the road. The underpass facility beneath this road was created by modifying a sluice gate, combined with animal reflective panels, wooden ladders and a concrete box culvert design. The fragmented habitat has been reconnected. Not only do leopard cats know the way, other small carnivores also know that to cross the road they should use the underpass.
Li Longhua, who originally only wanted to grow pesticide-free rice for himself to eat, unintentionally became the Leopard Cat Rice field area.