“How is it now? We'll be there soon..." On March 18, 2024, staff from the Wildlife Conservation and Management Station in Altay City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, received a call for help. Villagers in Duoergen Village, Qiemuerqieke Town, Altay City, discovered an injured animal on the roadside.

The injured animal was a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), a kind of animal that is under first-class state protection in China. After careful inspection by the staff, it was found that there were some scratches on its wings that needed treatment.

Photo taken on March 18, 2024 shows villagers take the injured golden eagle to the Wildlife Conservation and Management Station in Altay City, Altay Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"This golden eagle may have been hungry, exhausted and injured due to the recent cold and rainy weather. Fortunately, villagers found it and called us in time to rescue it.”Heyichumulat Maolithan, a staff member of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Station in Altay City, said.

In 2023, the station rescued a total of six wild protected animals, including a fox, two Mongolian gazelles, one gray crane, one owl and one black-headed gull. These animals will be released back into the wild once they have fully recovered from their injuries, with a release rate of 100 percent.

In recent years, relevant departments in Altay City have increased the publicity of various types of wildlife protection and raised the awareness of the masses to protect wildlife. And Altay City has greatly improved the ecological environment through measures such as returning farmland to forest, afforestation, and urban landscaping construction. At present, the forest area of Altay City reaches over 120, 000 hectares, accounting for 11.8 percent of the total land area, and the grassland area is over 760,000 hectares, accounting for 74.5 percent of the total land area.

The improvement of the ecological environment has provided a good habitat for wild animals, making it common for people to see the figures of wild animals such as golden eagles, otters, and wolves outdoors.

(The Media Convergence Center of Altay City, Reporter: Fu Haodong)