The
Chinese
Academy of Sciences and
Qinghai Provincial Forestry Bureau have signed an agreement to
join hands carrying out research on wildlife protection at the
Qinghai Lake beginning March.
The cooperation will begin from the surveillance and control of
possible bird flu virus at the Bird Island, an important habitat
for migrant birds, said Zhang Dehai, director of the management
department on the Qinghai Lake State Natural Reserve.
Surveillance equipment will be upgraded in March and a database
and a laboratory will be set up to monitor the migrant birds and
possible bird flu virus, Zhang said.
The cooperation will then extend to surveillance of the diseases
of wild animals and the protection of wild animals, Zhang said.
Qinghai Lake, the largest saltwater lake in China, is located in
Qinghai Province on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is home to about
213 species of wildlife and was listed as an internationally
important wetland in 1992.
Bird Island is located near the west bank of the Qinghai Lake.
It is the habitat of about 120,000 birds belonging to 189 species,
among them birds are Bar-Headed Geese, Brown-Headed Gulls,
Cormorants and other birds, all living on the one-square-km grassy
shore around the island.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2006)