At the source of the three longest rivers in Asia - the Yangtze, the Yellow River and the Mekong River - on the Qinghai plateau lies the area known as Sanjiangyuan. With some of the vastest stretches of raw nature in China, it is home to an incredibly diverse animal population, such as the endangered snow leopard. 

One of the people working behind the scenes to protect local snow leopards is Dang Wen. He is from a small village known as Yunta in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in the south-western part of Qinghai province. The area, at an altitude of around 4,200 metres, recently found itself thrust into the limelight as a filming location for Disney’s Wildlife Documentary “Born in China”. 

Dang Wen’s family is, like many in the area, a herder family. He lives with his wife Zang Yongcuo and their 13-year old daughter; their son has been sent to the county town for school. The women are the ones tending to the household and looking after the yaks. This makes it possible for Dang Wen to spend much of his time on animal protection. He is the team leader of a group of volunteers doing protection work and, since 2013, a forest ranger. 

In 2011, Dang Wen was contacted by the Shanshui Conservation Center, which has been working with the local population to raise awareness about animal protection. 

“Before, it was each to their own here. But now the Center has been advocating for animal diversity and introducing us to the concept of animal protection, so we slowly developed an awareness and started to wander the mountain to do our part”, Dang Wen recalls. 

Doing his part in Dang Wen’s case means maintaining and collecting footage from a number of infrared cameras that he helped set up as part of the conservation effort. When the NGO arrived in the area in 2011, they had no data on how many snow leopards there were, what their main prey was and what their home range looked like. But with the help of Dang Wen, who knows the territory well, they have been able to capture footage of snow leopards and learn the answers to these questions. 

Dang Wen has even been able to use his own camera to film snow leopards, a rare opportunity reserved only for a lucky few. For him, the experience has created a bond with the animals, sustaining his desire to continue with protection work, even though it is unpaid, physically demanding and at times dangerous with wild animals and poachers operating in the area.

“Although I am not paid, I really like this job. You could even say I love it. It has a lot of meaning,” he says of his role as protector of the plateau.