An endangered species of deer living in south China's island province, Hainan, is under better protection after 23 were moved to a new home in the island on Thursday.

The species, cervus eldi, is a branch of swamp deer found only in Hainan.

The number of this species of deer had fallen to only 26 by the middle of the 1970s because of reckless human activity.

To protect them from extinction, the state set up a nature reserve in Dongfang city in 1976, which covered an area of 1,314 hectares, and since then their number has been constantly rising.

There are 1,012 deer in the nature reserve, which is still too small for the survival of such a large number of animals.

The Hainan provincial government decided to expand the reserve which covers 30,000 ha more land in the south and east of the reserve.

Officials from the reserve said that in two years, 300 deer will be moved to their new home.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2003)