Construction has begun on a center offering rescue and care to lost and injured chiru, an endangered Tibetan antelope, in the sparsely populated Hoh Xil of northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Cega, director of the Hoh Xil State Nature Reserve Administration, said Thursday the projected center is being built near the Suonan Dajie Nature Protection Station 4,600 meters above sea level where the weather is cold and oxygen is deficient.

The center will require the construction of infrastructure such as fencing made of steel plating, a warm shelter for the animals, and rooms for medical treatment and observation.

The center is financed with one million yuan (US$120,481) donated by the Hengyuanxiang Group, a Shanghai-based textile conglomerate. Construction is expected to be finished in 2004.

According to Cega, the center will be staffed by experienced workers in wildlife scientific research, rescue and care and breeding.

The chiru is under threat from poachers for its wool, and it is estimated there are only about 75,000 left today with the number rapidly declining.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2003)