Deer bounce back from brink in Jiangxi reserve

NANCHANG－Along a muddy path through the bushes, 59-year-old Wu Yefei and 34-year-old Lin Zhonghua followed the footprints of a Sika, an endangered species of deer under top-level national protection, to check on the environment and electronic monitoring equipment in the mountains.

The two men are patrollers at the Taohongling Sika Deer National Nature Reserve in Pengze county, Jiangxi province. Wu has worked at the reserve since it first opened in 1981. "Wu was one of the first patrollers, and he knows all about the mountains. I have called him my 'master' for 12 years," said Lin, who started working at the reserve in 2010 just after graduating from college.

Fortunately, Lin's master is experienced. Wu can estimate the number of wild animals and their main areas of activity just from observing their footprints, and information like where hills are steep and plants are dense are imprinted in his mind.

The Jiangxi provincial government set up Taohongling in 1981. Due to such factors as environmental degradation and hunting, the number of Sika was declining at the time, and only about 60 remained in the reserve.

"We knew nothing about their habits at the time," Wu said.

Disarming traps used to be an important task, as sometimes they killed the deer, Wu recalled. After years of destroying the contraptions, his hands are thickly callused.

Over the past 40 years, Wu, who hikes about 30,000 steps during each patrol, has gradually seen changes in the reserve. What gratifies him the most is the increased awareness of the importance of protecting the Sika.

One day three years ago, a sixth grader rode up on a bicycle to tell the patrollers that a deer was stuck in marshy land.

"We rushed over in time to help free it," Wu said.

The constant effort to protect the Sika has paid off. Early last year, a joint survey by the Taohongling reserve and Jiangxi Normal University estimated the reserve's Sika population at 624, 10 times larger than when the reserve first opened. The deer, once wary, have grown accustomed to people.

Wu will retire in a year's time, but he is more at ease because he believes Taohongling's Sika have a brighter future.

Infrared cameras have been installed in the mountains in recent years, and drones patrol the skies.

In 2019, the reserve's administration worked with 17 local government departments to jointly establish the Sika Deer Joint Protection Committee, and more young people have joined the patrol team.

"The future protection of the Sika deer indeed depends on the young and high tech," Wu said.

Xinhua