Urban forests here in the country appear to be emerging as places of refuge for a number of endangered wildlife prompting calls for proper research and support efforts.
Lee Eun-jin has more.
In this small forest, surrounded by houses and apartments in the city center of Gangneung in Gangwon-do Province, the endangered flying squirrel has recently been spotted.
The flying squirrel is also designated a Natural Monument in South Korea.
And in May, another vulnerable species the fairy pitta was spotted in a small forest near a school area in Ulsan City.
The colorful fairy pitta is a summer migratory bird that is hardly ever seen in the city.
But these small city forests have become shelters for wild animals that have lost their homes to urban development.
Now, there is an environmental organization, a cooperative, where its members conduct ecological research by searching for traces of wildlife, such as footprints and excretion. They have also taken the role of raising awareness of the importance of such urban forests in the ongoing global climate crisis.
“The climate crisis is driving more endangered animals to extinction, so humans need to think about what we can do in such a situation.”
But the reality is that not even a basic ecological survey, in terms of the numbers and animal species, is being conducted in most urban forests.
“When mating is carried out in a small population for a long time, inbreeding can occur, which greatly reduces genetic diversity.”
There are roughly 2-thousand-600 urban forests across the country.
More people are raising their voices for protection measures and ecological surveys at these forests, in order for safe coexistence of wildlife and humans.
Lee Eunjin, Arirang News.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=272838
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