Volunteers protect Tibetan antelopes in China's uninhabited land

Nearly 500 volunteers have joined a campaign to protect the critically-endangered Tibetan antelopes in Kekexili, a remote nature reserve in northwest China's Qinghai Province, local authorities said Saturday.

Kekexili, also known as Hoh Xil, began recruiting volunteers in 2004 to monitor Tibetan antelopes' migration, clean garbage along the roads, stop the poaching of antelopes and other wildlife and help rescue endangered animals, said Tsering Samzhub, an official in charge of publicity with the nature reserve administration.

"The volunteers from different parts of the country serve on month-long terms," he said. "But nearly all of them have continued to support us by raising funds and publicizing wildlife protection after they go back to their home provinces."

Thanks to their efforts, he said Kekexili and its Tibetan antelopes are widely known across the world.

Kekexili, which means "a beautiful young woman" in Mongolian, is an inhospitable area of 45,000 square kilometers, with an average altitude of 4,600 meters.

The land was beset by poachers in the 1980s, who hunted Tibetan antelopes for their hide, which was made into luxury shahtoosh shawls. Rampant poaching caused the antelope population to plunge from 200,000 to less than 20,000 in the late 20th century.

The nature reserve was established in 1997 to intensify conservation. No illegal poaching has been detected for nine years and the antelope population has been restored to 60,000. Endit