The survival rate of newborn Tibetan antelopes in the Hoh Xil
Nature Reserve, northwest China's
Qinghai
province, has reached an all-time high of 87 percent thanks to
efforts to protect the endangered animal.
Not a single case of poaching has been recorded at the reserve this
year and numbers of Tibetan antelope, which tops the government
protection list, surpassed 70,000.
By
June this year, more than 30,000 female antelopes had migrated to
Zhuonai and Taiyang Lakes in Qinghai Province to give birth.
Work on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was suspended for several
consecutive nights when female antelopes crossed the site while
migrating to and from their breeding site in June and August this
year.
In
addition, the railway department is considering building an animal
tunnel to ensure antelope and other species can pass under the
railway safely after the line opens.
Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, a 45,000-sq-km (17,375-sq-mi) area with an
elevation of 4,600 meters (15,092 feet), is the major habitat and
breeding ground of Tibetan antelope. It was set up in 1995 and
upgraded to a state-listed reserve in 1997.
The poaching of rare wild animals such as Tibetan antelope was once
rampant in the Hoh Xil area, where more than 20 endangered species
live.
An
estimated 20,000 Tibetan antelopes were killed each year in the
1990-98 period, reducing the number to 50,000.
To
protect wildlife, Qinghai banned mining, tree felling and hunting
at Hoh Xil in October 2000. More than 100 people are patrolling the
reserve this year to crack down on poaching.
(Xinhua News
Agency August 17, 2002)