China's highest-altitude wildlife park provides home for iconic species

Photo shows a snow leopard named Da Hu in Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Wildlife Park, the sole and highest-altitude comprehensive wildlife park on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in southwest China. (People's Daily Online/Xiong Xu)

A wildlife park located on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in southwest China, the world's highest plateau, serves as a sanctuary, breeding site, way station, and home for animals.

Covering 900 hectares, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Wildlife Park is the sole and highest-altitude comprehensive wildlife park on the plateau. It is home to iconic species, including snow leopards, Tibetan foxes, Przewalski's gazelles, black-necked cranes, kiangs, Chinese mountain cats, Pallas's cats, and Himalayan vultures.

In recent years, the park in Xining city, Qinghai Province, has rescued over 1,600 wild animals of more than 40 species.

Nearly half were returned to nature after rehabilitation and health evaluation, while those unable to survive in the wild due to illness or age have found a new home in the park.

Most of the animals have their own names. "True to its name, Ling Bufu has quite a temper. It often pounces at the window to provoke visitors, making it the latest 'internet celebrity' here," said Qi Xinzhang, a veteran wildlife rescuer, chuckling at the calm demeanor of a snow leopard named Ling Bufu, which means "unwilling to submit" in Chinese.

"The ideal outcome for wildlife rescue is to return animals to their natural habitats," Qi explained. "Whenever possible, releasing them back into the wild is always our first choice."