The Chinese Alligators Breeding Research Center in east China's Anhui Province plans to breed alligators in the wild for the first time, according to an official of the center.

To keep the Chinese alligators, which are under state first-grade protection, from extinction, the Chinese government set up the state nature reserve in Xuancheng, a city in east China's Anhui Province, twenty years ago.

The number of the Chinese alligators has risen from about 200 to more than 10,000. However, the number in the wild continues to decline.

Only 150 Chinese alligators are left in the wild, living in pockets in east China's Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. Each year the number of alligators declines 4 to 6 percent, said sources with the center.

The Chinese Alligators Breeding Research Center in Anhui Province has released three adult Chinese alligators, two females and one male, into the wild in the protection site in the Xuanzhou prefecture of Xuancheng in 2003. The wireless electric tracing monitors reported satisfactory reactions from the alligators.

The center decided to invest huge funds to develop wetlands and special release spots. In May an additional nine to twelve Chinese alligators will be released.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2005)