Night falls. Headlights blaze. Hundreds of chiru (Tibetan antelope)
roaming the vast grassland face a short life expectancy. The dust
turns pink. Suddenly a skinned chiru wakes up dripping blood.
Despite being hit by several bullets, it was shock that rendered it
temporarily unconscious. Being stripped while still alive, it is
scared of human beings. I can even see its tiny grimace. But it
cannot even close its eyes now, because it no longer any skin, even
eyelids. It scurries a few steps, collapses jerking and twitching.
That is what the “Wild Yak’s Brigade” anti-poaching squad has
commonly seen on its patrols as the sole armed anti-poaching squad
in the 450 square km Hoh Xil (Kekexili) Nature Reserve.
Next day. Baby chirus cling to life, nursing on the cold breasts of
mothers killed for their fur. Even poachers have some heart when
they hear the babies crying. The brigade tried to feed them
powdered milk; the nipples of the mother were even cut off to try
and seduce the baby to feed, but all ended in failure. Since chiru
do not feed others’ offspring, the only destiny awaiting them is
death.
The chiru population was 1 million or more at the beginning of the
20th century, according to an estimate by wildlife biologists. But,
by the mid-1990s the numbers had dropped to less than 75,000, due
principally to poaching for shahtoosh. As many as 20,000 chiru are
killed annually to supply the trade, with males, females and young
slaughtered indiscriminately.
Thanks to the “Wild Yak’s Brigade” arduous efforts, a great numbers
of chiru skins, ammunition, cars etc. have been ferreted out, and
poachers arrested. To some extent, this has curbed the serious
poaching in Hoh Xil district.
The “Wild Yak’s Brigade” as the sole armed anti-poaching squad,
risked their lives, sacrificed wealth and taxed their physical and
mental strength to protect chiru. On December 14, 2000, it was
awarded the ultimate honor — the 300,000-yuan Great Wall Award of
the Ford Motor Company’s Environmental Protection Honors.
However, while the public was showing more and more concern for
China’s ecological condition and more funds and equipments were
being raised to support them, the brigade suffered a fatal blow
from the local government--being ordered to disband for various
reasons. People caring for chirus wonder who will become the new
guardian angels? CIIC thus interviewed Professor Liang Congjie,
president of Friends of Nature (FON), which is a non-government
environmental watchdog keeping close contacts with the brigade. Mr.
Liang and his colleagues gave the explanation of issue as
follows.
The Plight of “Wild Yak’s Patrol” Squad
Following the discovery of gold in Hoh Xil in 1984, close to 30,000
prospectors rushed to the area that had lain undisturbed for
several centuries. Their arrival not only meant illegal mining, but
also an ecological disaster for dozens of endangered and protected
animals. First, the animals were killed for food, and then, since
1992, hunted for Shahtoosh, the fur taken from the neck of chiru. A
shahtoosh shawl, bringing death to between three and five chiru,
can fetch up to US$40,000.
Sonam Dorje, deputy county magistrate of Zhiduo County, was ordered
to establish a regulatory commission (the precursor of the “Wild
Yak’s Brigade”) to govern the area. Later he found brutal poaching
had endangered the survival of the chiru breed. He shifted his
focus from economic resource supervision to protecting the
chiru.
On
Nov 18, 1994, Sonam Dorje was cut down in his prime in a gunfight
with 14-armed poachers in 1994, his body frozen solid, one hand on
rifle and one in the process of reloading it.
His brother-in-law, Zhawa Dorje soon picked up his holy mission.
One year later, Zhawa Dorje was found shot dead after a quarrel
with his wife.
Though his death was ruled as a suicide, Professor Liang Congjie
claimed: “Just hours before his death, I received a phone call from
Qinghai Province to Beijing in which he talked about his ambitious
anti-poaching activities. I just can't believe that such a lively,
courageous, and kind-hearted person would commit suicide. This is a
fatal blow to the anti-poaching cause, and to wildlife protection
in general."
Then, 47-year-old Liang Yinquan took over squad leadership. Since
then, the brigade has cracked 92 cases, confiscated 8,601 chiru
skins, 101 vehicles, 114 rifles and semiautomatic weapons, plus
140,000 rounds of ammunition, and taken 376 suspects into
custody.
“Though we risk their lives to combat poaching, it can only prevent
less than 20 percent chiru skins from reaching the black market,”
he said.
Lack of patrol funds also presents a big problem to the protection
cause. As it is a 1st class national poverty county, Zhiduo County
can only spare US$37,000 a year. That is far from enough even to
pay for gasoline.
The skies are so tempestuous that a hot summer afternoon can also
witness snow and hail. Temperatures in Hoh Xil can drop to 40
degree Celsius below zero. In such an unforgiving area, if someone
runs out of gasoline, or his vehicle becomes incapacitated for some
other reason, without outside help it would be difficult to survive
even for five days. After each expedition, the vehicles needed a
huge overhaul. When the cost of gasoline, food and ammunition is
added up, each trip costs more than 20,000 yuan. With 20 patrols a
year, either the brigade or its members are heavily in debt.
Desperate short of money, the Wild Yak Brigade has had to conduct
patrols with extremely poor equipment and supplies. They used their
own meager savings to buy food and clothing for the long trips.
Most settled for cheap ramen noodles, salty pickles and buns, which
became frozen bricks by the time they bit into them. They slept and
ate outdoors, clambered over glaciers, waited out poachers in the
snow and fought pitched battles with these heavily armed criminals.
On the bitterest days, the brigades huddled against the jeep engine
for warmth.
All of them have stomach ailments from irregular eating habits and
severe arthritis from wading through icy rivers and falling asleep
soaking wet.
Besides the brigade, the families of these guardian angels also
endure great suffering for the chiru. On 22nd, December, 2000, two
team members, Zhaga and Jianger Zhaxi, applied to borrow some money
from Liang Yinquan. Zhaga’s mother was sick in hospital and Jianger
Zhaxi preparing to marry.
After long consideration, Liang finally gave each 300 yuan (US$35).
He squeezed out 100 yuan (US$12) for renting a shabby house and 300
yuan for Jiangger Zhaxi’s wedding party and necessary second-handed
furniture and bedding, which would be deducted gradually from his
pittance of a salary--260 yuan (US$30), being the common amount for
squad members.
The brigade, except five civil servants from Zhiduo County
government, are hired by Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve
Conservancy as temporary workers, which in China means less pay and
no long-term employment guarantee. They can be laid off on the whim
of the leadership or due to the conservancy’s financial situation,
without any official administrative procedure.
Official Reasons to Disband “The Wild Yak’s Brigade”
The brigade confronted an ironical contradiction. Though they
confiscated a lot of cars, guns, ammunition and other equipment in
the anti-poaching combat, all had to be transferred to the local
government. They embarrassed themselves this summer by running out
of gas and having to be rescued. In despair, they sold some chiru
skins to get necessary patrol funds. Some, therefore, attack the
brigade as poachers, too. That’s why Professor Liang Congjie,
president of FON, insisted on stopping the sale of chiru skins by
donating two police cars to the brigade.
"If the government guaranteed our funding, we would never have done
such a thing," Liang Yinquan said of the pelt sales. " We had
nothing. We sold 20 percent of what we caught so we could protect
the 80 percent that still faced death. We don't do it anymore--why
do they keep mentioning it?"
No
matter what objective condition is, law is law. One cannot fight
against a crime by committing another crime. This is reportedly the
main reason for the order. The local government will never allow a
brigade to behave like the people they are trying to catch.
Another hot issue is the brigade’s right to enforce the law. Sonam
Dorje, Zhaba Dorje and Liang Yinquan are all from Zhiduo County
Forestry Police Station. Their police background entitles them to
possess guns and arrest poachers. The rest are recruited as
temporary workers. They have no right to put on a police uniform
and arrest poachers.
As
for the uniforms, the government can't afford to make everybody
full-fledged police officers, Liang said. Out on the frontier,
criminals would never fear them if they didn't look official, so
they must wear the uniforms.
There is a conflict between the squad’s original obligations and
the protection offered by the newly established National Nature
Reserve Conservancy in Hoh Xil. Nobody wants to see the two sides
engaging the same job, but sometimes there may be conflicts in
operations. Since most of the men in the brigade are illiterate,
alcoholic and low discipline-oriented, the authorities naturally
incline towards annexing the brigade to the conservancy.
Problems in Annexation
Rumors about the brigade being disbanded began in 1998. NGOs in
China, especially Friends of Nature, spared no efforts to save the
team. In August 1998, Professor Liang Congjie joined 17 mass media
correspondents to write a letter to Vice Premier Wen Jiabao. The
letter urged “at least the leadership of the brigade should be
introduced or accepted into new organization if every effort fails
to maintain the integrity and independence of the brigade.”
“Vice Premier Wen has given a favorable official written reply to
my proposal and delivered it to Qinhai provincial government.
Qinghai’s practice is a deviation from Wen’s opinion.” Professor
Liang Congjie said. Can Nature Reserve Conservancy and temporary
workers from the “Wild Yak’s Brigade” form a joint force to tackle
poaching? The expectation is not promising right now.
As
an administrative organization, the conservancy can only set up
checkpoints to conduct random sample inspection while the Wild
Yak’s Brigade headed by police can in some degree hold guns and
fight poachers. But there is more bad news. Winter is traditionally
a good poaching season because frozen roads are more passable and
furs in winter are of better quality. For inexplicable reasons, the
conservancy announced a long holiday for over two months until
March, only leaving some staff symbolically manning checkpoints
instead of being on patrol in Hoh Xil as the Wild Yak’s Brigade
used to.
“As an NGO, we do not have the right to protest the personnel
restructuring of the government departments. I just worry about the
chirus.” Liang Congjie said, “ A long holiday in the poaching
season is nothing but a passport to poachers, a passport of crime
immunity.”
A
Lost More Than A Pity to Ecological Protection
On
14th December 2000, the Wild Yak’s Brigade got the Great Wall
Award---the ultimate one co-sponsored by Ford Auto China and
Environment and Resource Committee of National People’s
Congress.
The order to disband the brigade came on the 20th -- too soon
before the brigade can greet their biggest financial aid in
history; too soon before they can use the funds to do more to
protect poor chiru.
Ford is now in a dilemma over distributing the funds. The fund is
specified for anti-poaching activities, especially patrols.
“The Wild Yak’s Brigade won a high reputation through their bravery
in extremely arduous natural and financial situations. In business
terms, it’s a world-famous brand they won at the cost of several
deaths,” Professor Liang Congjie said. “The brigade is a carrier of
the public’s ecological awareness. Many people are moved by their
valor and willing to donate funds and equipment to assist them.” It
is now a common concern that the new organization can gain the same
confidence.
A
Hong Kong expedition team intended to donate an America military
cross-country truck to the team, which will enable them to match
the poachers in terms of vehicles. But this plan was dropped when
they heard the brigade had been disbanded.
“Nothing seems clear yet.” Professor Liang Congjie said, “ The Wild
Yak’s Brigade won the public and donators’ confidence through their
protection efforts. I do hope the conservancy can prove itself
worthy of the name---Guardian Angels of Chiru.”
(CIIC by Xu Zhiquan 01/18/2001)