How can fireflies truly return?

Only by rejecting cruel romance can the fireflies truly return. Releasing captured wild fireflies in an artificial environment is nothing more than a cruel romantic illusion.

It is reported that Fangshan’s “Heavenly Flowers and Sea” scenic spot has launched a firefly-themed viewing area. This activity has been questioned by the environmental organization "Firefly Ecological Line". Volunteers said that most of the tens of thousands of fireflies released in the scenic area were purchased from other places. Staff in the scenic area said that these fireflies are naturally bred and artificially bred.

As for natural reproduction, fireflies were extremely common in summer twenty years ago. With the development of cities, wild fireflies, which have extremely demanding requirements on the natural environment, have become almost extinct in cities. Experts who have studied fireflies all year round only found dozens of wild fireflies in Miyun Reservoir and Beijing Botanical Garden during the inspection. The scenic spot claimed that such a large number of fireflies came from nature, which shocked experts.

There are also doubts about artificial breeding. Experts say that the cost of artificially breeding fireflies is as high as 20 yuan each, but the price of commercially sold fireflies in the scenic area is only about 4 yuan.

At present, there is an underground firefly industry chain on the Internet. In the name of artificially breeding fireflies, a large number of wild-caught fireflies are provided at low prices and sold to cities for commercial activities. When urbanites release fireflies to feel the romance of nature and the taste of childhood, not only are there few places for fireflies to live in the city, but the wild populations are also under great threat.

According to statistics, in 2016, there were 121 firefly exhibitions held across the country, and the number of fireflies consumed reached 6 million. Since a large number of fireflies will die during transportation, this means that the number of captured fireflies is even greater. Commercial exhibits of fireflies are contributing to the extinction of fireflies. Fu Xinhua, an associate professor at the College of Plant Science and Technology at Huazhong Agricultural University, said frankly in a media interview: "The overall population of fireflies in our country is declining rapidly, and some species are on the verge of extinction. They are already in a very dangerous situation."

Not only China, From a global perspective, the rapid development of industrial civilization from the 1980s to the 1990s caused the rapid decline of firefly populations. The more economically developed areas are, the rarer the fireflies are.

This scarcity has stimulated the commercial use of fireflies. According to statistics from the Firefly Ecosystem, since 2015, the number of commercial activities using fireflies has increased year by year.

The good news is that Ningdu County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, which is rich in wild fireflies, issued the "Notice on Prohibiting the Capture and Selling of Fireflies" in July this year to stop the capture and trafficking of fireflies from the source. This notice also reminds us that there is no harm without buying and selling. If the use of fireflies in commercial activities can be banned from the consumer side, wild fireflies will be protected more directly.

Releasing captured wild fireflies in an artificial environment is nothing but a cruel romantic illusion. Greed for short-term beauty will bring extinction to fireflies. Oppose the commercial activities of fireflies and let more fireflies return to nature so that we can see more real fireflies in the natural environment.