China Builds More Nature ReservesThe latest establishment of Huangnihe Nature Reserves protecting Siberian tiger and Japanese stone pine added the number of nature reserves and preserves in Jilin Province to 42.Jilin Province is in northeast China with Changbai Mountains in the east, plain in the middle, and prairie in the west. It was selected to be an ecological pilot province in China last year for its typical geology. It was learnt that there are 437 kinds of wild animals and nearly 4,000 kinds of wild plants in the province. Jilin has made 10.4 percent of its land, or 1.94 million hectares, into nature reserves in order to protect these wildlife and create a better environment for them. "A sound ecological environment is a must for human beings' existence," said Zhang Lufeng, an official in charge of wildlife protection in the province, "it is of scientific, biological and tourism values for China and the rest of the world to establish and well manage nature reserves." The Changbai Mountains have been appraised by the World Wildlife Fund as a nature reserves at the degree of "A". Hunting has long been forbidden since the provincial legislative body adopted a decree in 1996 to forbid hunting for five years in the province. The province has confiscated some 100,000 hunting guns and punished 700 people for violating the law. Wildlife rescue stations established at the provincial and city levels have rescued 4,500 wild animals. The protection measures resulted in reappearance of Mongolian gazelles, Siberian tigers and leopards which were once believed to have or endangered to extinct. |
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