The Chinese government is to earmark 11.2 million yuan (US$1.3 million) in the next two years to protect its endangered reindeer, the forestry administration of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has announced.

The rare species is listed as China's main protection priority with around 700 surviving in an Ewenki ethnic tribe village deep in the Greater Khingan Mountain Range.

China has included the Ewenki breeding area in the state forestry wildlife protection and natural reserve list. So far, 500,000 yuan (US$12,048) of early-stage fund has been in place for the protection.

"Protecting the reindeer is protecting a unique ethnic tribe," said ethnologist Kong Fanzhi, "because the reindeer serves not only as the tribe's most valuable means of production and daily life, but as a pillar of their tribal spirit and culture."

In China, only the 100-member-plus tribe are raising reindeer which they have used for transport for about 100 years.

However, the reindeer's numbers have been falling in recent years because of inbreeding and attacks from predators.

China is intending to raise its reindeer population to more than 3,000 within 10 years through the protection of their habitat and breeding.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2003)