Forest guardians: ‘I regard it as my child’

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By CGTN's Zheng Chenlei

Jilin Wangqing National Nature Reserve, located in Wangqing County, NE China’s Jilin Province, covering 67,434 hectares, is one of the major habitats for China’s big cats.

Wild Siberian tigers and leopards have long been on the ropes suffering from hunting and habitat loss.

To protect the wild Siberian tigers and other wildlife, the government has banned commercial logging in Jilin provinces in 2015. Local forestry bureau also organized foresters to preserve the area.

Foresters remove trap set by hunters./ CGTN Photo

Trap clearing is one of the foresters' major task as it only takes days for wild animals caught in traps to die.

With a GPS and a simple lunch in hand, the foresters will walk five kilometers per day searching for traps set by hunters. They have to look closely as some traps are made of thin wires and tied to tree branches. In winter, the traps get hidden under thick snow and pose dangers even to the forest rangers.

Yan Zhiqiang, 50-year old forester./ CGTN Photo

The 50-year old forester Yan Zhiqiang told CGTN that he treasures the forest.

“I worked in here since I was 25,” said Yan. “I have walked through almost every inch of this mountain, this forest. I regard it as my child that I would feel distressed if someone tear down a single branch.”

The trap removal operation was officially launched in 2013. With years of hard work, the number of traps was largely reduced. Currently, four Siberian tigers and six leopards have been spotted many times on infrared cameras in the forest of Wangqing.

1175km