The Hoh Xil Nature Reserve Administrative Bureau arrested a group
of Tibetan antelope poachers on Sunday in Northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
.
The four suspects were from the autonomous region. Officials also
seized two guns, 2,000 bullets, two vehicles and 24 barrels of
gasoline, said Cai Ga, the bureau's director.
It
was the first group of armed suspects caught this year, he
said.
Officials said the poachers started from Huatugou Town in Qinghai
Province on Thursday and planned to shoot Tibetan antelopes, the
animals under State's first-grade protection and now are in the
breeding period.
The poachers were found by the administration's patrol team on
Sunday before firing any shots. They tried to escape and threw
their guns and bullets, but all of the pieces were recovered by the
patrol team.
Two bureau volunteers, Lu Feng from Sichuan Province and Wang Ting
from Shandong Province, participated in the action against the
poachers.
The bureau recruited volunteers in May to promote the protection of
Tibetan antelopes.
Volunteers join the bureau's patrol teams for a one-month rotation.
There will be seven groups of volunteers before the end of this
year.
The first 10 volunteers have been on the patrol since May 10, but
two of them were sent back a few days later because the high
altitude made them ill, Cai said.
Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is 4,600 meters above sea level, with very
thin air and temperatures under -10 centigrade.
The second group of 10 volunteers includes three women,
journalists, police officers, company managers, lawyers, monks and
clerks.
They will arrive at the reserve on Friday.
(
China Daily
June 4, 2002)