[Przewalski’s gazelle|Thepaper.cn]

Przewalski’s gazelle, an endangered Chinese gazelle species that only exists in China’s Qinghai Province, has been proposed as Qinghai’s “provincial animal,” a move that aims to improve protection of the rare animal.

The proposal, which was raised by three members of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in January, aims to raise public awareness of the protection of less-known Przewalski’s gazelle, whose population is even less than pandas.

“Przewalski’s gazelle’s population was around 300 in the 1990s, while the current number is somewhere between 1,400 and 2,000. By making the gazelle our provincial animal, we hope the public will pay more attention to its protection,” Li Yonghua, one of the NPC members, told ThePaper.cn.

Once found in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Qinghai Province, the gazelle is now found only around Qinghai Lake. As one of the most endangered species on Earth, the gazelle faces many threats, including competition with domestic live stocks and fencing of the natural habitat.

[Przewalski’s gazelle|Thepaper.cn]

“The gazelles have already been listed as a first-class protected animal in China. In recent years, we have found no cases of illegal poaching, while the number of gazelles hurt by fencing is also decreasing,” Ge Yuxiu, an animal protection volunteer, told Thepaper.cn.

Local authorities in Qinghai have already established a 100-square-kilometer protection zone for the endangered animal, while the population of Przewalski's gazelle recovered to 2,010 around the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve in 2017, according to Xinhua.