Rich wildlife inspires amateur photographer
Cameras initially set up to keep animals out spark an interest to document Jilin's thriving ecosystem
Every day at 5 am, with the mist still lingering in the forests of Hunchun city in Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, Jilin province, Gu Baochen picks up a sickle and patrols the forest along the barbed wire.
Gu, 71, has been based at Songlin village for over two decades.
Initially tasked with preventing wild animals from encroaching on the forestland, he has since transitioned into a faithful guardian, using strategically placed infrared cameras to monitor the thriving recovery of the ecosystem in the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park.
Located at the junction of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, the park serves as a stable habitat for Amur leopards and Siberian tigers, while Hunchun lies in the core area of the park.
After retiring in 2000 from the Changbai Mountain Forestry Industry Group as a forestry worker, Gu contracted over 106.7 hectares of forestland in the village to cultivate forest-grown ginseng.
To protect his ginseng crop, Gu erected a 1.8-meter-high barbed wire fence stretching for 6 kilometers, attempting to keep wild animals out. However, he found that deer always managed to breach the fence, and even when he raised it to 2 meters, it couldn't stop them from entering the fenced area.
After repeated fence repairs, Gu came to the realization that the forest was home to wild animals and decided to foster peaceful coexistence. He purchased several infrared cameras, initially intending to keep closer watch over his crop, but ended up unexpectedly capturing images of wild Siberian tigers.
