A wild animal protection base, which integrates research, breeding, domestication and tourism into one entity, is to open this May in Yichang, Hubei Province.

It is reported that more than 120 kinds of wild and rare animals in Central China will be put under effective protection after the establishment of a wild animal breeding research center.

Yichang is located in the Three Gorges area. The total number of animals in seven species under top State-level protection in this city is less than 50, and the habitat of wild creatures has been severely damaged. Starting from 1997, the Yichang City Bureau of Forestry has conducted a detailed survey of wild animals living in the said city, and intensify efforts to punish illegal hunting, sale and transport of wild animals under the State's key protection.

Research on the protection, breeding and domestication of rare animal resources will be carried out in three Gorges Wild Animal Breeding Research Center now under preparation with the Three Gorges Wild Animal World as the mainstay.

(People’s Daily 03/15/2001)