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KNOCKING ON THE WRONG DOOR, GOING DOWN THE RIGHT PATH

by Aili Kang

Every time someone asks me about the reason that I work for wildlife, my answer is, "It is my luck to knock on the wrong door." I was an undergraduate student in the biochemistry department in East China Normal University in the late 1990s. During my fourth year, like many other students, I wondered about my future and tried to find a professor for future research development. One day, I knocked on a door without name on it. Dr. Endi Zhang answered the door and said, "May I help you?" Endi had just returned from abroad and his specialty is animal behavior and conservation. I had never known about this field before. But after several talks, I knew I had found an amazing world to explore.

During the Ph.D. period, I lived with a herd of saiga antelope in a remote research center in northwest China. Those animals, with their strange proboscis-like noses, become my favorite species. Although they were in the research center, the 27 ha enclosure with natural terrain and plants offered them good space to maintain their natural behaviors. Within this enclosure, the saigas taught me a lot. However, the condition of their wild population concerned me. If we cannot maintain the wild population, the behavior of the saiga will disappear, and what can we study after that? It was this question that led me think more about the value of conserving wild species.

In 2002, following Endi's suggestion, I translated and published the Chinese version of George Schaller's Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe. The scientific words mixed with George's deeply felt descriptions of nature guided me to the Tibetan Plateau a number of times during the translation period. From then on, I made the decision that I would go and work there for the wildlife, especially the Tibetan antelope (chiru), which is similar to the saiga antelope.

Finally, in 2005, led by George, I began my first field work in a chiru calving ground located in the Kunlun Mountain Region at the north edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Other than a geographic team from decades ago, our isolated camp was the only human track in that place. Our objectives there were to obtain detailed information about the movements of chiru calves and mothers within the calving ground. We put radio collars on baby chiru and followed them on foot. Neither the collaring technique nor finding the signal was difficult. However, at an elevation of more than 5000 m, the oxygen in the air is only about 60% that at sea level. It was June, but heavy snow was always a threat. At the same time, it seemed that chiru mothers didn't like to stay in one site for a long time, even for one day. Hence, the requirement for physical strength is enormous. Sometimes, it made me feel crazy when I lost the signal, because it meant I needed to climb over one or more hills to obtain the signal again. The most popular game we had when we had a rest during walking or climbing was to list all my favorite foods that I planned to have after field work.

After wandering in that place more than one month, we collected useful information for local management agencies. One of our local workers left a piece of scrip on the top of a hill near our campus. On the scrip, there was one sentence: "We need to protect these animals." That person had never done that kind of work before our trip. Based partly on our suggestion, the local government decided to establish a nature reserve there to protect the calving ground of the chiru.

That field work assured me that my decision was right. The vastness, the rolling mountain ranges, and the amazing Tibetan antelope on the Tibetan Plateau are something I want to work to conserve. Hence, after my Ph.D. study, I joined the family of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and accepted a position in the West China conservation program. Our team visited the Pamir region of Xinjiang, China for Marco Polo sheep, Qinghai Lake for Przewalski gazelle, and the Chang Tang of Tibet for chiru.

We did a winter traverse in northern Chang Tang in 2006. The region had not been visited since a trip by British Captain M.S. Wellby in 1896. Over 1500 km we met no humans, but only wildlife-- the chiru, kiang (Tibetan wild ass), wild yak, and Tibetan gazelle. Once again, the trip provided evidence that the Chang Tang is one of the last great wilderness landscapes on Earth. The wildlife on this landscape, especially the chiru and its traditional migration, need to be cherished and preserved.

Luck knocked on my door again. The EU and China's Government launched a big biodiversity conservation program in west China in 2007. Nineteen regional programs got funding. Among them, WCS became the lead agency for the project Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Use in the Chang Tang Region of Tibet. I was appointed to be the leading official for that project. I moved to Lhasa and established the team for the program. Our main local partners were from the Tibetan Forestry Bureau, Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and World Wide Fund for Nature.

Through this project, we are trying to help local conservation agencies and departments improve their capacity, collect a baseline of wildlife information on the ground, and encourage the participation of local communities. The program has been running for two years. I spent time as much as possible in the field. In the past, most work on chiru was focused on the migratory population. Now, the project has more information on the resident populations that will help to improve their protection. At the same time, the first Biodiversity Monitoring Rule has been completed and will be implemented this year, the first biodiversity database is being designed, and the first ecotourism evaluation is being conducted. All of those firsts thrill our team. However, my colleagues and I recognize that "first" means "beginning," and that maintaining and continuing these achievement will require sustained effort.

Just as George Schaller told me, there is no end for conservation. Wildlife and conservation will always raise new questions for us. Without wildlife, we won't be happy any more. Holding those beliefs, I will continue my effort to conserve wildlife.

I thank Peter Zahler for assistance with revisions.

Aili Kang received SCB's Early Career Conservationist award in 2009 for her work on conservation of mammals in the Chinese and Tibetan steppe. Her efforts already have had a significant positive impact on Marco Polo sheep, yak, saiga, Przewalski's gazelle, and other species, and she continues to expand the scope of her conservation work.

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