Seven years after northeast China's Jilin Province banned hunting, wild animals are leading safer lives and the local ecology has become more balanced, officials said.

With its vast, fertile black soil, forests and pastures, Jilin boasts 2,700 wild plant species and 1,100 wild animal species, some of which are rare and endangered.

The province has been one of China's leaders in environmental protection, first introducing polices and regulations to punish poachers in 1996.

During 2002 alone, the province investigated 460 poaching cases and other offences, rescuing more than 3,000 wild birds and animals illegally taken, according to Zhang Lufeng, deputy director of the provincial forest department.

Animal experts have also surveyed wild animal and plant resources in the province and done related research.

Jilin has carried out six projects in co-operation with international wildlife protection organizations and 40 programs with the China Wildlife Conservation Association and other government departments and institutes.

Over the past decade, the province's wildlife association has sent more than 100 experts to countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea for academic exchanges and co-operation.

A recent provincial plan for Jilin also aims to set up more effective administrative systems and management networks.

More personnel will be trained and more courses in wildlife protection will be made available.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2003)