A wildlife rescue center in Beijing has rescued more than 5,500 birds in the past 20 years, helping to protect the biodiversity in the city and beyond. CGTN's Zheng Yibing has the details.

Reintroducing the rescued raptors back into the wild is a job these conservationists based in Beijing have been doing for 20 years. The rescues are not easy. They've helped more than 5,500 raptors like eagles, falcons, and owls and over half the birds eventually recovered but some did not make it due to the serious injuries or illness.

ZHOU LEI Rehabilitator at Beijing Raptor Rescue Center "The center is like a hospital for the raptors that arrived. There will be a comprehensive check on their body and feathers, a cure is given for dehydration, and then they allow them to relax. Further checks are given the next day, like x-rays, blood analysis and they also receive suitable treatments."

The cure and recovery process might take days or even months and there is a necessity to care for the wild birds in a proper way.

ZHOU LEI Rehabilitator at Beijing Raptor Rescue Center "The goal of rescuing wild birds or animals is to help them get back into the wild and you need to try best not to establish emotional bonds with them. So, when we see them fly away, we are happy and but if they do not, we will worry because that means the rescue is not a complete success."

Professor Deng Wenhong explained the reason why they try to rescue and help these raptors back into the wild.

DENG WENHONG Professor at College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University "Raptors are at the top of the food chain and regulate the members of the entire ecosystem. With them, the ecosystem is stable and healthy."

Over the past two decades, professor Deng and his fellows taught people the correct ways of rescuing birds. A million people from Beijing and across the country have attended their lectures. Changes are happening.

PROF. DENG WENHONG College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University "95 percent of the 5,500 raptors we have rescued were discovered by people in Beijing who tried every means to reach us and some would send the birds here and some would tell us where to get the injured birds."

He said that if there is anything wrong that happened to the balance and diversity of the birds, the entire ecological system on earth would face disasters. He also hopes that more people can join the efforts to protect them.

ZHENG YIBING Beijing "What impressed me most during this interview is that conservationists say, raptors and other birds, and wild animals are just like us, they have emotions, and a role to play in the circle of life, undisturbed. Protecting their place in the ecosystem is what mankind needs to do, as they are also a part of this planet we all share. Zheng Yibing, CGTN, Beijing."