Zoologists who have been studying wild yaks attributed the dramatic decrease of its population in Qinghai to human harassment.
He Yubang, a leading member of the Qinghai administration of wild fauna and flora and nature reserves, said that the wild yaks, an animal species unique to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, can only be found in small flocks in the Yeniugou near Gemur.
Su Jianping, a research fellow of the Northwest Plateau Biology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the wild animals have to run away to small pockets of land as a result of the worsening eco-environment, excessive grazing in the grasslands and increasing human activities. The wild yaks live in extremely adverse natural conditions. As their habitats get increasingly smaller, their flocks have to naturally decrease, he said. He also attributed the decrease to poaching.
(www.cenews.com.cn May 14, 2003)
