19/10/2005
- Wuhan, Hubei, China – Twenty years after being re-introduced
back into the wild in China, Pere David’s deer are once
again thriving in the Central Yangtze region. The
Pere David's deer was once found only in China along the
central and lower Yangtze River basin. But, years of overhunting
and loss of its wetland habitat due to reclamation led
to the extinction of the species in the wild in the early
20th century.
However, a small population of Pere David's deer bred
at the Woburn Abbey wildlife park outside of London were
re-introduced to the Central Yangtze in 1985 by the Chinese
government, and in 1986 by WWF.
From this founder population of 39,
the numbers of Pere's David deer in China have increased
steadily. A recent count put the number at 2,500 individuals
at three national nature reserves.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the
species re-introduction, a celebration was held today
at a new visitor’s centre that has been opened at the
Yangtze Tian’ezhou Oxbow Wetland Reserve, home to the
species' largest population (600 deer) and site of a WWF-HSBC
Yangtze wetland restoration project.
The centre — established by WWF, together with HSBC and
government agencies from Hubei Province and Shishou County
— is aimed at raising awareness on conserving the habitat
not only of Pere David’s deer, but of the ecosystem that
supports local communities and rare species, including
the finless porpoise.
‘While it is tremendously exciting to see how Pere David’s
deer are now thriving, there is still a long way to go,"
said Wang Limin, manager of the WWF-HSBC Yangtze Programme.
"We are also trying to restore
the ‘web of life’ along the Yangtze River, securing the
home of not only Pere David’s deer but all life that depends
on the Yangtze."
The WWF-HSBC freshwater initiative
has to date re-linked four formerly isolated lakes to
the Yangtze and introduced fish fry to these areas as
the first step in healing the area’s degraded ecosystem.
In addition, WWF is providing seed
funding and technical support to fish farmers to adopt
sustainable livelihoods — such as eco-fisheries and eco-tourism
— to reduce pressure on the area’s natural resources,
as well as supporting trainings to improve the capacity
of nature reserve staff.
END NOTES:
• The anniversary celebration was
attended by relatives of the UK team that helped re-introduced
Pere David’s deer back into China in 1985, including Lord
Robin Russell, the Son of the Marquis of Tavistock, and
other visitors including friends of the Russell family.
Also on hand to celebrate this achievement was representatives
of HSBC, the Hubei Provincial Environmental Protection
Bureau, local government, and the Beijing Milu Park.
• Established in 1865 in Hong
Kong and Shanghai, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
(HSBC) Limited has long been involved in the welfare of
the communities it serves. Since it began to track donations
for mainland China, more than RMB100 million covering
the areas of disaster relief, community welfare, vocational
training, environment and education has been recorded.
In 2002, the HSBC Group established the five-year Investing
in Nature Programme supporting a range of conservation
initiatives around the world. The WWF-HSBC Yangtze Programme
is one of these initiatives. |