Donations are welcome to help raise the rare species of wild horse, Xinjiang Equus Przewalskii Poliakov, according to sources with the Wildlife Protection Association and Wild Horse Reproduction Research Center of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 

The call for donations, the first of its kind ever in Xinjiang, targets both individuals and organizations. Anyone who donates 2,000 yuan (about US$241) can help raise a wild horse for a year.

Donators can choose the horse they wish to raise and name it, and will receive certificates and medals. Those who donate for a 10-year tenure will be endowed with the lifelong raising right of wild horses.

Thirty-six horses will be among the first raised, with the activity ending in late May. Similar activities will be held annually.

Xinjiang Equus Przewalskii Poliakov originated in Xinjiang and is considered a rare species. In 1886, Russian traveler Przewalskii Poliakov captured some of the animals during a visit to the region and took them to Europe. The wild horse had become extinct in China, but there were about 100 in European and American zoos.

China reintroduced the horse in the mid-1980s from Germany. They now live in Junggar Basin, totaling more than 200.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2005)