Wild animals breeding unchecked in reserves in the Tibet Autonomous Region will be culled to reduce pressure on grasslands.

Zhoima Yangzom, an official in charge of wild animal protection with the forestry bureau of the autonomous region in southwest China, said that controlling the rapid growth of wild animals in the region has long been a problem for local people and animal experts.

Local people were complaining that wild animals, which invade their pastures, have affected their life and work, said Zhoima Yangzom.

Experts are considering reducing some of the wild animals including wild donkeys and blue sheep.

Due to the protection of many wild animal species, the region has seen a dramatic rise in the animal population, posing a threat to local people's livelihoods and pasture resources, Zhoima Yangzom said.

It is estimated that at least 70,000 wild Tibetan donkeys are living in the Qiangtang Nature Reserve, and 20,000 will be culled.

According to estimates by the regional forestry bureau, local people's demands for compensation for damages caused by wild animals totals 500,000 yuan (over US$60,000) a year.

Cering Baijor, a herder in the Shuanghu Special Zone in Qiangtang, said that herders had no way to milk their yaks or even to approach them when wild yaks invaded their stalls during summer, a mating season for the animal.

Some yaks were even forced by the wild animals to leave the stables and never come back, Cering Baijor said.

Wild yaks killed one person and injured 32 in the last 10 years while taking at least 450 domestic yaks away and killing 23, local public security authorities said.

Because of financial difficulties, the local government of the special zone can not satisfy local herders' demands for compensation, said Zhuggyur, an official of the special zone.

With no experience in the research of wild animal culling, Zhoima Yangzom, a forestry official, said the region would advance cautiously.

"Only after we have done a scientific feasibility review can we decide how many wild animals will be eliminated," Zhoima Yangzom said.

Some experts also proposed that herders and farmers be moved outside reserves to concede pastures to wild animals. They also believe the number of domestic livestock should be controlled in order to alleviate the demand for grasslands.

However, local officials said that it was very difficult to move local farmers and herders to other areas. Though the autonomous region boasts a vast land area, it has limited areas which are fit for human habitation.

"If we can't provide a favorable environment for them, it is really difficult to relocate them," Zhoima Yangzom said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2003)