The Shanghai Zoo hopes to be home to the largest pack of wolves in the country, in order to save the species from extinction in China.

Five wolves from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province arrived in the city on Tuesday. They, and four wolves already living at the zoo, will be on public display during the Spring Festival, which starts on Sunday. The new arrivals are currently undergoing physical examinations.

According to the zoo, over hunting has put the nation's wolf species in jeopardy.

Several months ago, the zoo sent researchers to search for wild wolves around the country, but they couldn't find any sign of large wolf packs.

"We've searched Anhui, Zhejiang, Hebei and Henan provinces," said Xiong Chengpei, director of the Shanghai Zoo. "But there were no big packs of wild wolves anywhere."

The zoo plans to import several more wolves as well as breeding them, to ensure it has a pack of 20 wolves by the end of this year. Several of them will eventually be returned to the wild for more breeding.

The zoo also opened a 300-square-meter wolf yard for the nine wolves.

The species has never had a good reputation in China, which has played a role in over hunting as few people are concerned about the future of wolf packs.

"That's why wolves have been neglected for so long and there is still no funded research on wolves in China," said Xiong.

(Shanghai Daily January 26, 2006)