Guardians of a Threatened Species Will Soon Be Extinct

Despite its growing fame, western China’s Wild Yak Brigade was ordered this month to disband and give up its proud name.

A handful of ranking officers of the brigade, which crusades against poaching of endangered Tibetan antelopes, will be transferred to unspecified jobs. The remaining two dozen men will be absorbed by a rival group.

Just weeks before the announcement, the brigade--known in Chinese as the Yemaoniu Dui--had been awarded a $37,000 grant from a Beijing-based environmental group to continue its work. Private supporters in China and around the world, including some Times readers, had sent donations after learning about this ragtag army of men who risk their lives to patrol the forbidding terrain of the Kekexili wilderness.

Members of the group had prepared themselves for being disbanded. For eight years, impoverished Zhiduo County in Qinghai province had struggled to fund their missions. It was a costly affair that left the brigade more than $30,000 in debt. Private donations and a daredevil spirit enabled the battle to last as long as it has.

Three years ago, the provincial government formed the Kekexili Natural Preserve Protection and Management Bureau on the uninhabited high plain to increase protection for the antelopes. No one could explain why the experienced brigade members were not included in the better-funded troop of rookies back then. Neither is it clear why the good name of the Yemaoniu Dui could not be preserved under the new administration.

“I don’t feel good, but I have to follow orders,” said Jin Yanzu by telephone from the brigade’s abandoned home base in Golmud city. He is one of the officers who will be transferred to a Zhiduo County position. Also departing will be Liang Yinquan, the group’s captain, who has been a father figure for the younger men.

As one of the founders, Jin has seen two previous leaders killed for the cause and numerous other men put their lives on the line.

“I leave with only half a body,” said Jin, who, like many of the brigade members, is ravaged by a stomach ailment and other physical problems caused by the primitive working conditions. “My heart will always stay in Kekexili.”

Officials from the newer group say both the Tibetan antelopes and the Wild Yak Brigade men will be better off under a central bureaucracy. What the bureau lacks in experience it makes up for in money, trucks and guns. The brigade members will get a raise, to about $49 a month from about $32. But the men say it remains to be seen how their new bosses will put the bureau’s resources to use.

According to members, the brigade’s possessions--from the grant received last month to the beat-up jeeps that kept the group going--will be returned to the Zhiduo County government.

Nearly 20,000 Tibetan antelopes, or chirus, are slaughtered each year. Their fine wool is smuggled out of China and made into expensive shahtoosh shawls that are sold illegally in the West.

Despite their limited resources, brigade members have uncovered nearly 100 poaching operations and confiscated more than 8,600 pelts during their tenure.

But they were far outgunned by the poachers. When they began their campaign eight years ago, more than 200,000 antelopes roamed the highlands. Only about 30,000 remain.

The Kekexili plateau is the only place in the world where these rare animals are found. If the killing doesn’t stop, conservationists say, the Tibetan antelopes could be wiped out in 20 years.