According to Xinhua news agency, the Government now has these animals in the ‘near threatened’ list, but continues with the fight against poaching and the smuggling of their parts as the main way to protect them.

The decision followed an increase in the antelopes from fewer than 70,000 species during the 1980s and 1990s, to around 300,000 species at present.

That species, Xinhua recalled, is mainly found in Qinghai province and the Xinjiang autonomous regions of Tibet and Uyghur.

A few weeks ago, China took a similar measure with the panda, its sacred animal, and whose population increased to 1,800 species after a program that involved repopulating the bamboo forests, the panda’s habitat and main food.

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