The price of earthworms has soared, 300 yuan per kilogram, and they are being hunted to extinction! A new breeding project is coming?

As the saying goes, there is no killing without buying and selling. With the continuous development of human society, more and more resources are taken from society. Many rare animals are hunted indiscriminately to meet certain human needs. Killing makes these animals become rare and protected animals, and their populations are facing the crisis of extinction.

For example, toad venom, deer antlers, centipedes, pearls, leeches, black snakes, etc. are all valuable traditional Chinese medicine resources, and the corresponding animals have been hunted to extinction.

Today, my country has more than 12,800 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine resources, 1,581 of which are animal resources, accounting for 12.35%.

Although various places have strengthened the protection of many animals, there are always people who can "pick up the slack" and extract value from unprotected animals to make a fortune, and earthworms are one of them.

01. Earthworms have diverse values

I believe rural people are no strangers to "electric earthworms". In fact, this kind of machine can discharge electricity, leaving the earthworms hiding in the soil helpless. By drilling out of the soil, the hunter can reap the benefits.

As early as a few years ago, a group of people came to the author's village and went around with electric earthworm machines to catch hundreds of kilograms of earthworms in a day.

The villagers were not alert at the time, thinking that there were many earthworms and there was no need to intervene.

But after several rounds of extermination hunting by this group of people, the villagers discovered that the number of earthworms that had been flooding was significantly reduced.

Someone went fishing and wanted to dig up earthworms, but no trace of earthworms was found in many places.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, earthworms only live in the soil, they can loosen the land, and they can also be used to fish and catch shrimps.

In fact, the value of earthworms is very high. Now in the Chinese medicinal materials market, its price has risen sharply. However, this has caused unforeseen disasters for earthworms, and an extinction-level killing industry chain has begun.

Dried earthworms, also known as dried earthworms, are a common Chinese medicinal material. However, due to high temperatures and severe drought in the northern plains this year, the number of earthworms has decreased, resulting in a shortage of dried earthworms and their prices. Keep going higher.

So, what is the value of Dilonggan? According to traditional Chinese medicine classics, Dilonggan has the effects of unblocking collaterals, relieving asthma, clearing away heat, and being a diuretic. More than 40 kinds of medicinal materials have this effect.

Modern medicine has discovered that earthworms are rich in earthworms, as well as vitamins, amino acids and other substances. These nutrients can improve the body's immunity and can also clear away heat and diuresis. Therefore, earthworms have also become a One of the raw materials of health care products.

As people become more aware of the role of earthworms, the market demand is also increasing, so the price of dried earthworms has also been rising. As early as 10 years ago, earthworms were 30 yuan per kilogram, and then they rose again. to 70 yuan per kilogram, and now it has risen to 300 yuan per kilogram.

02. Extinction hunting

As the price of earthworms continues to rise, it has also inspired a group of people to capture. In this context, the "electric earthworm machine" came into being, as long as Insert the two power cords of the device into the soil, and then adjust the voltage of the device. This will form a closed-loop circuit on half a square meter of ground, allowing earthworms in this area to be stimulated by the current and drill out.

With the extermination of people in various places, the number of earthworms in the soil has decreased sharply. This is obviously a bad signal and will bring about a series of environmental problems, attracting the condemnation of many experts. , CCTV also made a stern statement against it.

The main location for electric earthworms is soil with high organic matter content, such as vegetable gardens, front and back of courtyards, and farmland. In places with abundant resources, hundreds of kilograms of earthworms can be harvested easily in one day.

With the increasing market demand, high-power electric earthworm machines have also been manufactured, which once again curbed earthworm resources.

Earthworms are known as ecosystem engineers and are widely distributed in nature. There are about 200,000 to 2 million earthworms per hectare of land. In addition, earthworms have the habit of burrowing into the ground and crawling, as well as their omnivorous attributes. , so that earthworms can loosen the soil very well and make the soil aerated and watery.

At the same time, as consumers and decomposers of soil ecology, earthworms can transfer soil energy, eat rotten plants and debris in the soil, accelerate the decomposition of organic matter, and thus allow the soil ecosystem to cycle.

Of course, the feces discharged from earthworms is a very good organic fertilizer. It is rich in the three major elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which can meet the needs of crop growth, allowing crops to grow better and yield higher yields.

If the number of earthworms in the soil decreases sharply, it will cause the earthworms to become compacted, their air and water permeability will decrease, and soil nutrients will also be depleted, thus causing serious damage to the land.

03. Key crackdowns in various places

Today, various places have launched key crackdowns on electric earthworms. For example, in May, Dongchuan police arrested 6 men and confiscated more than 200 kilograms. earthworm.

It is reported that when the police arrived at the scene, they found that one of the men had caught 6 bags of earthworms. The man also said that the earthworms caught this year were much smaller than last year. It can be seen that the growth rate of earthworms has been reduced due to excessive harvesting. Can't keep up with the hunting speed.

Although earthworms are not yet listed as protected animals, various localities also crack down on those who use electric earthworms in accordance with the "Wildlife Protection Regulations".

At the same time, Sichuan Province has also submitted a proposal to the country to "ban the trapping of earthworms." Guangdong Province has clearly listed electric earthworms as illegal and has prosecuted three sellers and fined them more than 2 million yuan. The person in charge was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Of course, many experts call for increasing the scale of artificial breeding. For example, Professor Zhang from Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine encourages expanding the scale of breeding.

From this point of view, a new breeding project has been born, but breeding is risky, so everyone needs to be vigilant and not blindly invest in it.