Walk on the wild side

It is getting darker and darker in the middle of the afternoon, night comes early in the Tibetan wilderness. Eight forest rangers pitch camps in the vast wildlife habitat of the Naqu plateau, home to Tibetan antelopes, snow leopards, wild yaks, Tibetan donkeys, black-necked cranes and other rare and endangered species.

As darkness falls, some of the men gather cow droppings to light a campfire. Others make beds to sleep through the freezing night.

These guardians of the Tibetan wilderness, armed with antique pistols to warn off game poachers, are on an annual month-long patrol for the Forest Public Security Bureau of the Naqu Region.

"Life is boring and tough when you see only the same eight faces over 30 days on patrol," says Jigme, deputy director of the bureau, who, like many Tibetans, is called by a single name.

Actually, he sees other faces at night. Tibetan antelopes, wild donkeys and eagles will show their faces around the campfire, which always cheers up Jigme and his fellow guardians of nature.

Their usual food is zanba, traditional Tibetan noodles made from roasted highland barley flour. Jigme says he gets so sick of eating the same noodles in the wilderness that when he returns home from patrol, even the aroma of zanba gives him a stomach ache.

"Most of us get stomach diseases on patrol, without enough nutritio or a fixed dining time," says Jigme, a short but muscular 27-year-old man.

To prepare him for patrol duty, his 29- year- old wife, Kelsang Rum, gives him a box of medicine, mostly to cure stomach ailments.

Kelsang is quite supportive of Jigme’s work, but she never stops worrying about him and the danger that lurks when he is on wildlife patrol.

Rangers outgunned

In Tibet, hunting wild animals is both an ancient tradition and a threat to the survival of rare species. Tibetans believe that wild animals have no owners and they belong to the hunters who stalk them. Tibetan game poachers often go hunting in groups. Antelope horns and tiger pelts frequently decorate their homes.

"Most of their guns are aimed at shooting the Tibetan antelope," says another forest ranger, Bama Zegdyu. "Just one strip of raw antelope of leather can be sold for over 800 yuan in winter. But if the leather has been processed into finished goods, it will be worth thousands of dollars. There is a lucrative industry behind the hunters."

"The hunters are bloodless. They will shoot and skin an antelope in two minutes while the animal is still alive and suffering from shock," Jigme says.

In the battle of game poachers against game wardens, Jigme and his fellow rangers are outnumbered and outgunned.

They carry old PLA pistols manufactured in 1964 and 1977. That’s not much firepower against game smugglers armed with hunting rifles.

"It is quite dangerous for us to run after the hunters, since most of them are local villagers who are familiar with the area. They know every road and corner. It’s more dangerous when patrolling in the unpopulated zones. The hunters can attack us easily," says Zegdyu, still in his 50s, but a game warden in the bureau for more than 10 years.

His friends call Zegdyu "the human map" because he knows the topography and can find his way out of any tight spot. He admits that "fewer people risk poaching in the district nowadays. Most of the poachers are local villagers and the people from Qinghai and Sichuan."

Zegdyu used to fight the game hunters face-to-face.

He and his fellow rangers have done a brilliant job protecting wildlife in the sparsely populated Naqu zone, also known as North Tibet, 4,500 meters above sea level, where wild animals live and multiply in valley forests and on grassland prairies.

The hard work of the game wardens and their dedication to the preservation of nature has allowed the number of antelope in China to multiply from 50,000 to 120,000 in recent years.

In the Naqu district alone, more than 50,000 antelopes were spotted during a 20-day investigation jointly conducted by the Naqu forest police and a research center.

Eight game wardens patrolling 400,000 square kilometers in North Tibet might seem impossible to most people.

But the Forest Public Security Bureau of Naqu Region has achieved success year after year.

In recognition of their dedication to protecting the environment, Jigme, and other guardian angels of wild animals came to Beijing on January 25 to accept the second annual China Border Wildlife Conservation Award. The glittering ceremony honoring individuals and groups who have made the biggest contributions to the protection of wildlife was held at the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Customs police, border guards, and forest rangers marched on stage in their uniforms and saluted as they accepted their awards, garlands of flowers and many accolades as the heroes of wildlife.

Jigme is a man of few words who only speaks when he has something important to say. He graduated from the Jiangsu Police Institute. He is a highly decorated officer, but was quite modest in his acceptance speech as a representative of his bureau.

"I myself do not have much to be proud of, but it is not surprising that our patrol station is being honored as the Gold Award winner," Jigme told the Global Times. "We work hard in a terrible environment, but do not complain about the lack of modern equipment, vehicles, or weapons."

The award sponsors lavished praise on the wildlife keepers.

"We are all aware that Naqu is extremely unfit for human habitation. But the Forest Public Security Bureau of Naqu Region has been fighting over the years to protect wildlife on the plateau. If they are not our heroes, who will be?" asked Su Ming, deputy director of the International Forestry Cooperation Center, State Forestry Administration, speaking to the reporters.

Unlike other regions of China, visitors to Naqu can stand 300 meters away from a Tibetan antelope, even though the animals are extremely skittish around human beings.

In areas outside Naqu, the antelopes run away when they see a human being 1 kilometer away.

"Sometimes, it seems that the protection of wildlife is a mission impossible in China," said Xie Yan, the country program director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, speaking to reporters at the awards ceremony, sponsored by the society’s China program.

"I was so delighted to get so close with the Tibetan antelope in Naqu, which shows that fewer injuries are being inflicted on wild animals by human beings. I believe the harmony between the human beings and wild animals is being fostered by the hard work of the bureau."

Tigers in peril

The world’s wild animal population has decreased sharply over the past 20 years as a result of human activities, such as hunting, encroachment on wildlife habitat, the expansion of industrialization and urbanization.

Apart from this, huge profits derived from the illegal smuggling of animal pelts, teeth, and antlers have brought death to countless wild animals.

The number of tigers around the world dropped by 95 percent over the past century. Smugglers and poachers have accelerated the decline over the past 25 years.

China has 2,531 nature reserves, more than any other country on earth.

Yet China is believed to be the world’s largest importer of turtle shells, ivory tusks, pangolins, and tiger skins. Many preservationists suspect that China is the biggest smuggling market for many other species.

The illegal consumption of wild animal meat and the trading of animal teeth and pelts are thought to be the biggest hurdle in the struggle to protect China’s biodiversity.

Amur tigers, called Siberian tigers in the West, are among the most endangered species in China, but they are hunted down to satisfy an increasing demand on the black market., according to Xie.

Traditional Chinese medicine holds that various organs of the tiger, plus its skin and bones, build a strong body, although modern scientific research has proven tiger organs provide no special health benefits.

Tiger hunting has resulted in fewer than 20 Amur tigers alive in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces in Northeast China, the country’s only Amur tiger habitat.

Today it is believed that only about 4000 wild tigers still inhabit the earth, while 40 years ago at least 4000 tigers lived in China.

"2010 is China’s Year of the Tiger. Each of us should take steps to protect tigers and refuse to purchase any products made from tigers," said Xu Hongfa, director of the China Project of TRAFFIC, established in 1976 to protect the biodiversity of wild animals. The project is run under the auspices of the World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF) and The International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN).

The group’s research found that 44 percent of Chinese people admit to eating wild animal meat. The Cantonese top the list of people who enjoy wildlife dishes, followed by residents of Kunming, Chengdu and Harbin.

The belief that eating wild animal meat can build a strong body has spurred consumption, according to the survey.

Xu said he is worried that these culinary traditions will continue during the Spring Festival period. He called on all orders of society to reduce the consumption of endangered wild animals and boost awareness of wilderness protection.

Education needed

With a lengthy border of 21,000 kilometers adjoining 14 countries, it is difficult for China to control the smuggling and poaching of wild animals.

"The implementation and enforcement of protection in China is quite low, even though they devote really large amounts of money and resources to it," Spike Millington, chief technical advisor of the EU-China Biodiversity Program, told the Global Times.

More money and manpower for conservation programs is needed, Spike said.

"To improve the protection work it would be much better if China had better reporting, more funding and transparency in its protection programs."

Consumer demand remains strong worldwide as wildlife has been smuggled across the borders of neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, endangering wild animals beyond China’s borders.

"In 2009, our customs agents handled 76 cases involving the smuggling of rare species and seized 100 suspects, which shows the great progress made in recent years," said Cao, press officer with the General Administration of Customs of China. He refused to divulge his full name during an interview with the Global Times.

A large number of monitor lizards, antelope horns, pangolin and other endangered wild animals and their by-products have been confiscated, Cao said.

Apart from a government crackdown and harsher penalties, experts say education is the key to protecting wildlife in China.

"We have 1.3 billion people in China. If just one in ten thousand eats wild animal meat, one in 10,000 wears real fur and one in 100,000 hang a tiger pelt on the wall, then countless species will go extinct," Xie Yan said.

"This isn’t only about environmental protection. It’s about the salvation of the human soul," said the awards spokesperson Feng Xiaoning, the film-maker who directed the eco-friendly movies Purple Sunset, Super-Typhoon and The Ozone Layer Vanishes.

China Border Wildlife Conservation Award

Five Gold Award winners

1. Dong Jianchuan of Dehong Forest Public Security Bureau, Yunnan

2. Anti-smuggling Sub-bureau of Kashi Customs of Urumqi Customs, Xinjiang

3. Forest Public Security Bureau of Naqu Region, Tibet

4. Xiao Yanfeng from the No.65811 Border Army of People’s Liberation Army

5. Public Security Sub-bureau of Dalaihu National Nature Reserve of Hulun Buir Public Security Bureau

Five Silver Award winners

1. Li Guoyou from Yunnan Forest Public Security Bureau

2. The No.1 Inspection Division of Huanggang Customs of Shenzhen Customs

3. Li Huadong from Shenyang Forest Public Bureau

4. The Administration Bureau of Dalaihu National Nature Reserve, Inner Mongolia

5. Anti-smuggling Sub-bureau of Baiyun Airport Customs of Guangzhou Customs