Packs of wolves haunt pasture areas in Xinjiang
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-26 10:04

The long-vanished wolves have resuscitated and begun haunting pastures in China's westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

They have killed 50 sheep in Qinghe county since this winter set in and victimized a total of 266 sheep there for the whole year, according to the statistics released by the local government.

Apart from Qinghe county's bane from wolves, Wuqia mountain and Bainburuk pasture had also been haunted by wolves. Though the exact figure of wolves is not yet available, packs of wolves have become sizeable in Xinjiang as the experts on wolves study said.

Herders can hardly tolerate to lose their top-drawer possession to wolves, so they pressure local government to do away with them, while environmentalists are in firm opposition to the overhunting of these wolves out of the consideration of ecosystem balance.

Wolves are placed on the upper strata of the food chain, so if their number shrink by a large margin, herbivorous animals will multiple to bring ruins to the grassland, said Zhu Defu, director of wild protection center of the Xinjiang Forestry Bureau.

Wolves and sheep are both indispensable rings of the pasture food chain, and they have to share the pasture in order to maintain the ecological balance, added Zhu.
Local governments are resolved to protect wild wolves by the means of providing compensations to herders who incurred losses from wolves' assaults with funds of the Xinjiang environmental protection fund.

The Qinghe county government appealed to governments at the lower levels to work out measures for the protection of these wolves and reduce major losses from wolves' harassments.