Back From the Brink

Conservation efforts have revived the population of endangered species, bringing them back from the brink of extinction

- Ji Jing

At the Sonam Dargye protection station in the Hoh Xil National Reserve in Qinghai Province, northwest China, the staff have been babysitting an unusual group of kids for more than five months. These are baby Tibetan antelopes that have been rescued from injuries and other mishaps.

The lake at Hoh Xil has been dubbed the delivery room of Tibetan antelopes. Every year from May to July, pregnant females from the Sanjiangyuan region in Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in the northwest, and Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China make the long journey there to give birth. When they return with the calves, some of the babies fall behind and get separated from the herd. This year, the rangers at the station saved eight such abandoned calves.

“We saved this one in July,” said Caisuojia, a worker at the station, pointing to a 5-month-old. “It was injured in a traffic accident. When I rushed to the site, it seemed to be dying. The volunteers at the station operated on it and saved its life.”

Caisuojia told China News Service he is responsible for feeding the calves, cleaning their pens and examining them. The station has 13 caretakers. Every morning, they prepared milk for the antelopes. “Every milk bottle has to be disinfected with hot water and dried. We have to first test the temperature of the milk by squeezing a few drops on the back of our hands,” he said.

After the eight antelopes turn 2 years old, they will be trained to live in the wild and finally returned to nature.

“Every year when we release them, we feel very sad, especially when they turn around to look at us. However we tell ourselves that since the kids have grown up, we the parents have to bid them goodbye,” he said.