Endangered Tibetan antelopes offered protection

China is offering better protection to critically endangered Tibetan antelopes after completing the expansion of a wildlife rescue and care center.

On Monday, a two-year expansion project of the Tibetan antelope protection center at Hoh Xil Nature Reserve in northwestern Qinghai Province was completed.

A clinic, a 108-square-meter brooder, an exhibition hall and steel fences that encircle more than 333 hectares are now in use, said Ngonga, head of the Sonam Dargye Protection Station, where the center is located.

"The fences, which have been greatly extended, will enable several hundred Tibetan antelopes and other wild animals to be accommodated in our backyard, and a well-equipped clinic will ensure timely and proper treatment for the injured," Ngonga said.

According to Ngonga, 239 wild animals, including 151 Tibetan antelopes and dozens of Tibetan gazelles, wild yaks and bar-headed geese, have been rescued and taken into care since the protection center was initially set up in 2004.

Tibetan antelopes, mostly found in Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and the western part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, are under first-class state protection in China.

There used to be millions of the animals on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but excessive hunting and human encroachment on their habitats caused their population to plummet during the past decades.

Over the past ten years, the protection center has proved to be successful in cracking down on illegal poaching and growing the population of Tibetan antelopes, said Pugdrup, head of the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve administration. The reserve is now home to more than 70,000 antelopes.

Pugdrup said the focus of the center is gradually shifting from fighting poachers to wetland protection and artificial breeding of wildlife.

In 2006, the world's first artificially-bred Tibetan antelope was delivered in the center. Nowadays, among the 26 wild animals under care there, seven Tibetan antelopes and two Tibetan gazelles have been bred under artificial conditions.

More plans to improve the protection center are currently under discussion, said Liu Ruiqi, president of Hengyuanxiang (Group) Co., Ltd., a leading textile producer in China that sponsored the expansion project.

"In the future, the center will further promote scientific research in rescuing and artificially breeding wildlife, and enhance public awareness of wildlife protection as well," Pugdrup said.